Dell Pre-installed Spyware

The first time that I noticed My Way Search Assistant in Control Panel on a brand new Dell I thought I must have picked up something in the first five minutes online. The next two new Dell computers I installed had the exact same thing, and this time it was before I started surfing the Internet. I did some research and found that it was true, Dell is now pre-installing spyware. They are telling their tech support not to tell customers about spyware removal products because it goes against some license agreements. They even say customers are overreacting in this article. Dude, Dell is almost Dead.

Remember, most of our posts are now taking place at the Design Ninjas Blog.

How the Hell Did a Californian land in Mountain Home, Arkansas???

We've had a lot of people ask how Bill ended up here in Mountain Home, Arkansas from Sacramento. Last week Paste This suggested we tell this story, so we've decided to do just that.

We usually refer to it as our Bait and Switch story.

Bill and I met through a mutual friend Steve LeBlanc. Steve and Bill had lived in Santa Fe 15 or so years earlier. Steve introduced Bill and I through the Internet. Now normally I would not have spoken to anyone on the Internet I didn't know, but I figured Bill had a good reference so he must be ok. After countless hours on the phone and online I flew out to Sacto for some Microsoft training. That was it, we knew we had to be together. So, every other weekend we flew back and forth. The plan was for me to move with my two kids to Sacto. I loved it there and so did Bill. Well, after Bill and I got married I chickened out (didn't want to quit my job, sell my house, or move my kids). So, I delievered the news that there was no way I was moving to California now. At that time I was still living in Arkansas and he in California. So after a day of him thinking this over he decided he would journey to The Natural State to be with me.

Today marks our two year wedding anniversary, and it's been a great adventurous two years!!

Remember, most of our posts are now taking place at the Design Ninjas Blog.

Activation Hell

I haven't posted in a few days for a couple reasons. It's been a bad few days...I crashed my computer a total of 3 times. I had a Win 2000/Vista dual boot setup...not anymore. Here's what happened.

1. Decided to install a new burning program on Win2000 partition
2. Got a blue screen and thought, no big deal I use Acronis I will restore the image
3. Started Acronis restore, got an error, ignored it, it deleted my Win2000 partition, but didn't restore
4. I was frustrated, thought about just not using a computer anymore, 5 minutes later decided I would take this opportunity to upgrade to WinXP...I've been holding off for awhile now
5. Installed WinXP on the former Win2000 space
6. It booted fine, but couldn't get to Vista anymore
7. Attempted to fix Vista boot by booting to Vista CD and doing a repair, no luck
8. Thought screw this I'm going to get rid of Vista and wait until the final version comes out
9. Deleted Vista partition
10. Could no longer boot Win XP
11. Repaired XP (sort of) by running repair off the CD
12. Programs didn't work right, things were strange, ran chkdsk and blue screen of death again
13. Keep in mind I activated XP when I first installed, after I repaired and now I was going to have to activate again (hold my breath and hope it works so I don't have to call India and read a gazillion numbers)
14. I again pondered not using a desktop computer anymore and sticking with my laptop
15. 5 minutes later started a reinstall of Windows XP
16. Finished reinstall and started to activate and no such luck
17. I entered Activation Hell with Microsoft, so I did the phone thing and got that worked through..as a side note this was the 2nd time in one day I had to call Microsoft to Activate, earlier in the day I had to call for a customer
18. Spent forever reinstalling programs and such
19. Backed up the computer
20. Now I'm back :)!

Remember, most of our posts are now taking place at Design Ninjas!

Firefox vs. IE

Here at Design Ninjas we are big Firefox fans. Mostly because there are so many extensions to choose from and ways to customize your browser with Firefox. My favorite extensions are Adblock and Adblock Filterset.G Updater. You can see in the two pictures above how different the same web page, www.tvmegasite.net, looks. The top one was a screen shot taken in Internet Explorer. The bottom picture was a screen shot taken in Firefox. The difference in the look is caused by the Adblock extension in Firefox.


I understand tvmegasite.net is a nonprofit organization and needs to make enough money to support the site, but the amount of advertisements and the ugliness of them all violate my sensibilities! I don't mind text advertisements, like Google does. It's the moving, flashing, dancing, bouncing ones that make me nuts. When a company puts advertisements like these on their websites I assume they are looking to sell to people who aren't tech savvy, because people who are know how to block that crap automatically!


You can find this same post at Design Ninjas. We will continue to post here every once in awhile, but most of our posts you will find at the Design Ninjas Blog.

Official Launch of DesignNinjas.com

This morning a cat came up to our back door and we let our dog Buster out to meet him. There was barking and a claw to the nose, but they made friends and Buster shared a saucer of milk with Sam the cat.

And today is the official launch of our new site DesignNinjas.com where we will be doing most of our new blog posts. Click on over there to see a clip of Buster and Sam making friends.

TLCmagic White and Nerdy

We heard this Weird Al Yankovic song off the Straight Outta Lynwood album for the first time this morning and just had to mash it up with this clip from our Office Closing. Yep, we're White and Nerdy, but tomorrow we will go live with our new Black and Beautiful Site!

To Take Risks or Not To Take Risks

A few days ago I (Misty) was walking through a little grocery store and looking at all of the old people. I had a moment of wondering what I would think when I was their age and I looked back at my life. I wondered if I would have any regrets. Normally I don't believe regrets are a good thing because every choice I have made, good or bad, has usually taught me something, and helped make me who I am. But, I could conceive of being older and regretting one thing, and that one thing was: Not taking enough risks and letting my fear control my decisions.

So, what is a risk? I know there are many different ways people think of risks...like in the video surfing a big wave, or sky diving. I'm talking about different risks, like starting a new business or making a big move across country. Mostly I think of these as risks because it's not guaranteed that I will be improving my life if I do these things, and I could fail bigtime, and the thought of failing is a scary one.

So, next is working through the fear. Fear is a tough one for me and I have many ways of dealing with it, but my two main ones are ignore it and push through the scary thing, or step back and take a bigger picture look. I think the "healthier" approach is the step back and take a look at the bigger picture. You may wonder how I do that. Well, let's see if I can explain it.

Example: Bill and I are moving our business in the direction of Design.

What's the risk or the fear in the example? We could lose all of our money and die from starvation. We might suck at Design and everyone might hate us. What if no one wants to pay us money and then what if we have to get jobs working for other people? The fear goes on and on.

What do I do to stop it? I decide to stop the thoughts where they are, and then I look at the worst thing that could happen: We could slowly lose money and have to get regular 9-5 jobs. Then I think about the best that could happen: We could be wildly successful and achieve all of our dreams. Then I think of what will happen if we don't take the risk: Nothing...things will probably stay the same. We won't improve our chances for success, but we won't die an ugly death either. Once I know all three of those answers (Worst, Best, and Middle) then I take a look at my overall life and goals and decide whether or not the risk is working towards my goals. If it is then just knowing the answers to those questions is enough to help me move through the fear and get on with the Risk Taking.

If anyone is wondering about Bill's process...Well, it's simple. He's fierce. If he feels fear he crushes it, and then becomes more fierce. He's also very arrogant, so he thinks he is wonderful at everything. His process is much, much different from mine!

Working With Your Spouse

If you have read our blog much, you know that we are married and we work together. Most people have ideas about what it is like to work with your spouse, and some have experienced it first hand. Of course, like everything in life, there are pros and cons to it. As you can tell from the pictures, it takes a whole lot of wrestling, and working back and forth.

Pros:

• You love the person you work with (at least you should if you are going to work together)
  
• You know each other very well and get to speak in Raw Format
• Working together adds adventure and a sense of accomplishment to the relationship
• You get to kiss and hug a lot without sexual harrasment lawsuits

Cons:

• Working together can add more stress to the marriage (but if handled correctly can bring the two closer)
• You can't just quit your job easily because you live with the partner you own the business with
• You have to look at the same person 24/7, and anybody can get annoying after that long (remedy: get out and take breaks with friends)

Most of the time we love working together. Sometimes Misty wants to rip Bill's head off, and other times Bill wants to growl at Misty like in the pictures below. When we stop and think about it though, we both would hate not getting to work together.

South Park Ninjas

We often watch South Park episodes at night after the Kids are off to bed. In this clip Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny transform into ninjas. For now we transform with Stealth.

Zero to Hero or Hero to Zero

Yesterday, we had a service call at Mike Byler's house, a.k.a the Iceman, and he had a hard drive that was dying. Mike let us know in Raw Format that if we didn't get the data we would be a Zero, and if we did get the data we would be Heroes. Turned out we got to play the Hero role this time! We understand how these roles fluctuate, and just as easily we can be the Zeroes again. Anyways, we like the Iceman and we love Raw Format. Yesterday we talked about who our ideal public was, so we have a new quality to add in the ideal customer:
We love it when customers give us Raw Format!

Puppy Print Update

We saw a post about Hugh MacLeod's Puppy Print on eBay, so just for fun, put one up ourselves. It sold to a chap from Australia for $41.00 plus shipping, not quite as high as the first one for $56.00, but not too bad. So a print from a South African company, lithographed in England, goes through Arkansas, before landing in Australia. And the Global MicroBrand rocks on. Krikey!

Who We Love and Who We Hate

Who do we love? Who do we hate? Who is our public? Who is our ideal customer?

These are all questions that we often ask. In the picture above, we have Sheila, a.k.a., The Salsa Lady! We love Sheila and her Salsa, but you may ask why do we love her. First, she makes wonderful salsa and is amazingly friendly, she usually has a positive outlook on life and a smile waiting for us. Second, she's alive and she can see things and get things. Third, she's in love with her husband after 20 odd years of marriage. She's a truly fun person to be around. No, she is not a customer, but does contain qualities we look for in customers.

So, who do we hate? No, we aren't going to post a picture example on this one. We hate people who have a bad attitude, people who won't return phone calls, and people who aren't alive. We hate it when people are not happy to pay us and don't get that we like to do good work. You may get stumped on the people "not happy to pay us" and think "why would anybody be happy to pay anyone?" Well, two examples:

1. We love to pay our attorney Norman Wilber whatever money he asks for and as soon as we get the bill. Why? Because he does a kick ass job and we want him to get that we appreciate him

2. I (Misty) loved to pay the Roto Rooter man whatever he wanted when he pulled out a glob of toilet paper that my son had stuck in the toilet. Why? Because I couldn't get the stupid toilet to flush and even though it was just toilet paper he made it happen and I appreciated that!

So...who is our public or our ideal customer? People who are alive, people that get things and are often taking a fresh look, people who are capable of appreciating, people we can connect with, and most importantly people who get the joy of us doing work for them.

You can lead a carp to water, but you can't make him duck.

Last Sunday we went down to the fish dock at Bull Shoals Lake and spent a couple quarters to feed the carp and ducks. That day it was warm and sunny, but today it is cool and foggy. As the weather changes direction, so do we, to get unstuck from the same old same old.

TLCmagic Ninja Masks

We transform TLCmagic t-shirts into Ninja Masks as we transform Twin Lakes Computer Magic into Design Ninjas. But we are still in Stealth Mode, so can say no more.

Serial Website Killer

This screencap to the top left shows the site that was and still is online. It, of course, is several years out of date. Why not take it down or update it?







This to the right is the site we did last year, it is still online, and it has not been updated either. Why not take it down or update it?







This to the bottom left is the site that came out last week. It appears that no one has explained to these people that you can use the same URL and change the design of the site by uploading new files. It also appears no one has explained to these people that it will be hard for people to just stumble on the correct site if you keep multiple websites up at the same time. How long until this one is abandoned and folks have to start looking again for the Twin Lakes Soccer Association? What are these people thinking? What is their Design?

Ninja Mask

We came across this image years ago on the Net, and we found it again with a Google Image search. But what is a mask for? This Wikipedia article suggests ceremonial uses, to prevent recognition, protective, punitive, and other uses. And how will you use your Ninja Mask? With great power comes great responsibility!

Ninja Partners

We came across this video clip, and it cracks us up! We are extremely fortunate to have each other as partners, but every once in a while it feels just like this. Enjoy, and may you find a great partner yourself!

TLCmagic Take Three, You're Out!

It had to happen sooner or later, they took down TLCmagic and put up more signs in the windows. You saw Take One and Take Two, and now this is the last of the Drivebys. But watch this space, for we have much more to say about signs, designs, and Ninjas!

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

We summited our version of An Invitation To Giving, and it was taken over by Microsoft Publisher and totally changed into another creature called "Brochure"!

Would you rather get an Invitation or a Brochure?

You be the judge!

TLCmagic Take Two

Last week we did a Driveby Shooting, and today we came back for more. Our URL is still there, but now it is surrounded by even more signs, and decorated with the Flag. God Bless America!

Smarter Conversations

This past week we were reminded of Hugh MacLeod's thoughts on "smarter conversations", and particularly these two points:

5. Ruthlessly avoid working for companies that “don’t get it.”
Yeah, you may have to turn down a few gigs, and that can really hurt when the rent is due. Still, anything that’s easy to get isn’t worth having.

6. Ruthlessly avoid working for companies that think they know better than you.
Luckily, if you get the whole “smarter conversations” thing, their “Yes, buts” will just seem rather empty, making them easier to “toss out like old furniture.”

We do want to have smarter conversations. Don't you?

Synchronicity

This morning, Bill's custom-built usual working computer with dual monitors, to your left in the picture, would not turn on. Bill switched to the single monitor computer, to your right, and just continued on. Later Misty replaced a power supply and processor fan, and the usual working computer was up and running.

All this was possible because of Misty's technical knowledge, our inventory of computer parts, and our nightly synchronization of computers. Is YOUR data backed up, is YOUR system backed up? How much does it COST per hour if you cannot get on your computer and do your work? What is your business model DESIGN? Good questions, huh?

Sailing Into The Wind

Neither of us had ever seen a sailboat on Lake Norfork before, but this evening we did, and geese too! Notice the geese have the wind at their backs, while the boat sails into the wind.

We have noticed sometimes when we make a choice to do what is best for us, it seems like there are more forces against us, and the appearance is that it is easier to go with the flow than against the flow.

Good example 1: When we got married everyone except Bill's best friend Bud Guess told us to wait and wait and not to get married so soon. We went against the wind and are very happily married.

Good Example 2: When we started our own business, all of Misty's family was telling us that we shouldn't do that. We went against the wind and have had a very successful and fun business together.

Been sailing into the wind lately, or are you one of the geese?

TLCmagic Take One

If you read our blog often, you know we like to have fun. Like when Bill stole the UPS man's dolly just to get a picture for a blog post. Our latest trick is when we moved out of our old office to become more Mobile, we left our website address at the bottom of the door. We wondered how long it would stay up, and what great mashups we might get with new signs.

So, here we have TLCmagic Take One. Over the weekend we did a driveby photo shoot of the Office on the Corner on the Square and found that we have become integrated with the Republican Party. Oh the Humanity, Horror, and Humor of it all!

Full Moon & Rising Sun

The Full Moon & Rising Sun, and two gray herons welcomed us as we started our walk by Lake Norfork this morning.





Colton & Madison both had early falls, and we all had an early Fall with cool temperatures and fog.

Why Do You Rob Banks? Because That's Where The Money Is.

We were shown this example to the left of a brochure encouraging gifting to a non-profit organization, and were asked if we might do something similar.


We did this one below in the form of an invitation, and we think it is quite different.

Which one will get better results?

Burning Sticks is Like Design

Sometimes all we have to work with is a pile of dead things, so we have to burn it down and start from scratch. And if it doesn't burn fast enough, we call for backup, our neighbor Linn Sonkens, and have him cover it in crankcase oil. Out with the dead things and in with the new ideas.

Misty's Drafting Chair

Misty's Drafting Chair arrived yesterday. Some assembly was required, but all came out well.

Design Website Draft Part Two

And now, the exciting conclusion!

Design Website Draft Part One

Today we closed the office for good and went down to Norfork Lake to discuss the design of our design website. Here is Part One.

Our Garage

Our garage may never become as famous as the HP Garage, but it is already showing promise as a base camp for Process, Brand, and Web Design. We call it the huh RAH heh, as if it were a Spanish word. Technical note: The word garage is actually French in origin.

Misty has her dual monitors, tower, tablet, laptop, and p.d.a. setup. All she needs now is her Drafting Chair.





Bill is happy as a clam with his dual monitors, tower, full backup computer, dual printers & scanners, and whiteboard!

TLCmagic Goes Mobile

We sent out this press release a couple Tuesdays ago, and today The Baxter Bulletin published this photo with this caption:

Bill and Misty Olen, co-owners of Twin Lakes Computer Magic, recently announced that they will be closing their office on the Courthouse Square in Mountain Home at the end of August to become more mobile. Said Olen, "Almost all our work is on site, and now we can go more places."

This is all part of our rebranding TLCmagic as Mobile, Global, and En-****ing-gaged!

Serenity Inc. Logo Process

A few weeks ago we began the task of marketing Serenity Inc. with the name of the organization, the words "Domestic Peace", and a little bit of the sense of Serenity's purpose. Bill offered his raw format opinion of their former logo here.
Misty surveyed relatives and friends on what the words "serenity" and peace meant to them, Bill Google Image searched the words and looked at hundreds of images. We discussed our findings and came up with about 4 possible areas of imagery, and Misty began making sketches until she had over a hundred.

We pored over the sketches, and narrowed the field down to 3 themes: Family, Dove, and Sunrise. More sketches were made, and we narrowed it down to 3 finalists. Grayscale versions and 4 tagline options were presented to the Board President and Executive Director, and a consensus began to emerge.

Now it was time to review the process with the full board and include their feedback, so color schemes we presented. And taglines were offered -- Building Domestic Peace, Bringing Domestic Peace, Making Domestic Peace, Waging Domestic Peace.

And the winner is Family Purple on Blue, Bringing Domestic Peace!

Love Story Collage Colored

Love Story Collage Two

Ok this is the last of the "love collage" posts---at least for now!

Love Story Collage

Misty was working on this collage to print up in poster size for our bedroom, and then a couple of Sunday's ago, this post got this comment from Tara Hunt of HorsePigCow.com:

You two are so cute!

You have to join the Love2.0 meme. ;)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/love20
(etc.)

It's about couples connecting through geekery. :) Thanks for coming by and commenting.

We think Tara and Chris Messina are way outasite cool, and so we have posted on Flickr and joined the meme.

Customer Responses

Every once in a while, we get a communication like this note from Cheri Hanson of Quarry Marina which is just about right. We like to do work for the people who are wildly enthusiastic to have us out and know that we are worth what we charge.

And then every once in a while we get a customer who complains that our prices are too high. We always invite them to comparison shop other providers and hope they do not come back.

Misty's Latest Ozark Mountain News Article

A few weeks back Catherine Abel, the publisher/editor of the Ozark Mountain News, stopped by to ask if Misty would write an article on "Buying Your Child A Computer" in exchange for a small display advertisement. The rate sheet for OMN states:

The Ozark Mountain News is a free monthly newspaper, with 5000 copies distributed thoughout Mountain Home and surrounding towns.
It is a lively mix of local news, community happenings and stories about interesting people and places. The Mountain News enjoys participation from our readers, who write articles about their fields of interest and who make their opinions known in a lengthly Letters to the Editor section. We feel that community feedback makes the News a vital part of Ozarks living.
Above all, we take pride in accuracy, fairness, interesting photography, in-depth reporting, and in providing our readers and advertisers with a product well worth reading.

We had fun composing the article and ad, we wanted to make something that did not look like everything else in the paper. Pick up a copy, read the article, view the ad, and tell us if you feel we succeeded!

Stewie Persuades Brian

Every once in a while, we get a customer who does not pay, or is slow to pay, one of our invoices. To Bill (in another lifetime, the highest-paid dishwasher in Santa Fe, but that's another story), who did collection work by phone, in person, and in court in New Mexico, this is an old, old story. To Misty it is shocking like the Stewie Persuades Brian video clip. We usually send in Good Cop first, then Bad Cop if needed. Like Bill says, "If they can't see the light, let them feel the heat."

TLCmagic Closes Office to Go Mobile

We do not know how the Baxter Bulletin will crop this picture, or edit this text, but this is the press release and picture we sent them, and now we will just have to see how they handle it.

Bill and Misty Olen, co-owners of Twin Lakes Computer Magic, today announced that they will be closing their office on the Courthouse Square at the end of August to become more mobile. Said Bill, “Almost all our work is on site, and now we can go more places.” Added Misty, “People can call my cell phone at 405-4859 or Bill at 405-4860.” The website for Twin Lakes Computer Magic is www.TLCmagic.com and the weblog is at http://tlcmagic.blogspot.com.

Office Closing Caravan

Picture this: Retirement community, courthouse square. Bill and Misty Olen, the wild and crazy people, decided they would like to take a picture with their cars on the sidewalk so that they could capture five signs in the photograph. The mission took place on a Sunday while the little town slept (or was in church). Blasphemy!

It all happened so fast, and we took this video to share with the world. Peggy Freeman even stopped and yelled out her car window, "It looks like you're having a party!"

Customer Letter

Two weeks ago, we sent out this letter to our one hundred and thirty or so customers from the last year and a half. Regular readers of our blog already knew of our thoughts about the Past and the Future, and our Purple Perspective, but for some of our customers this was new news, and from all those we have heard from it was welcome news. Yes, our emphasis is shifting from computer repair and networking, to web, brand, and process design, and this is an exciting change! As our profile says, "A couple who love to play with technology and have fun with design, start their own business to help people tell their story and achieve their dreams."

Mick Lucenta Receives His A+ Certification

Hooray Hooray! Our former Intern Mick stopped by for a visit today and shared with us the news that he finished his CompTIA A+ certification. We love it when good stuff happens to good people. Congratulations Mick and good luck in the journey ahead!

Geek Weekend

Insight into a Geek's Weekend:

1. Go to the movie rental store and rent some movies
2. Watch them
3. Only partially enjoy two of them
4. Watch the third even though it's awful
5. Decide it would be way cool to make a video about watching bad movies (you know, the whole world cares and if we upload it to YouTube then everyone will see how totally ungeekified we are)
   

Mystic Paper Beasts Theatre Company

We just got word that Dan Potter and Marya Ursin have put up a new web site for the Beasts! It is chock full of pictures and information, and is well worth a visit.

Marya and Bill go way back to ancient times at Swarthmore College when theatre and dance played second fiddle to more traditional academic studies. Pictured above with the late Addison W. Lee IV in front of the infamous Kitchen Mural (a site for naked Super 8 film shoots), with others they pioneered the way for the performing arts, or at least had some fun.

Rene's Birthday!

Yesterday Rene and Oksana threw a party down by Norfork Lake to celebrate Rene's birthday. There was food and drink and children and adults, and music all around. In this clip Misty holds Rene and Oksana's son Alex as they played. Rene did renditions of "Gloria" and "House of the Rising Sun" and Oksana reviewed both the classic and folk traditions of Europe. The movable feast went from Pavilion One down to the Swimming Area, and a grand time was had by all!

Questions?

We love to ask questions, even stupid questions! In this video clip Misty fools Bill by handing him a camera that is already recording, and what he sees does not make sense, so he asks questions. If a question does not make sense, it makes sense to ask questions. Check it out!

Top o' the Ozarks

It happened in Arkansas, The Natural State,
On a regular Sunday, a Hillbilly Date.
Off they went to have some great fun,
A Scary Old Man and the Beautiful One.
They needed adventure and something new,
To The Top o' the Ozarks to see a fine view.
A Dam, A River, A Lake, Land galore,
They spun in circles 'til they could see no more.
Alas, it was time to return to the Earth,
For eleven dollars they got great worth.

Reminder: Signed and Numbered Art Prints

We ran across this video that reminded us that almost nobody from our Geek Dinner has come by the Office on the Corner on the Square to pick up the prints. In this post, Hugh states the truth:

If your wine is not outstanding [for the price point it occupies], you’re dead meat. It's just as hard to sell a $10 bottle of wine as it is to sell a $100 botle of wine. At least if you want to make any money, it is.

And in this video Jason makes the same point, almost word for word. At the Arkansas Geek Dinner we voted on the best wine, and Stormhoek placed 3rd, not outstanding at all. So pick up your prints or the puppy gets it!

What Is This Raw Format, Anyway?

Any design process requires taking a good honest look at things, without regard for being nice or polite. And sometimes it is just plain funny to state the truth.

The Marketeers Present 2007 Office!

Uh, if you haven't heard yet, the, uh, new 2007, uh, Office Beta 2 is, uh, out for download. Now we aren't crazy about the name because we firmly believe in k.i.s.s. And for the non-computer geeksters out there, what we are talking about is, instead of the usual Office 2003 name layout, the Microsoft Marketeers switched the year with the word Office. They really earned their paycheck with that one!

Ok, so now the good stuff. We absolutely love the new Office. We like Vista a lot also, but the new Office is something we are really excited about. You can now save to a .pdf file (could Micro$oft be turning to the Light? Holy Jesus, say it ain't so!). The other thing that has excited us is the layout -- they have completely reworked the program and made it easy and beautiful to use. So it's all hard to, uh, explain, like Billy said, but you should definately check it out.

Dell, You Ignorant Slut!

Have you noticed that as soon as you decide to move in a particular direction, the physical universe sends messages asking, "Do you really mean it?" About 3 weeks ago we posted our thoughts about the Past and the Future. Over the last few years, we have consulted on the purchase of maybe a quarter million dollars worth of servers, workstations, personal computers, and peripherals (most of them Dell). We were Dell resellers and really liked Dell until the last 6 months or so. Their service has gone down and their computer quality seems to be following. The Dell representative we ordered through would change every couple of months because they just kept quitting. There are too many horror stories to tell them all, but to get the general idea you can visit the Dell Hell site. So, after we had enough of dealing with Dell we decided we would no longer resell their computers, but that we would consult with people on purchases if they chose to purchase Dell computers.

So, skip ahead 6 months or so to last week when we were asked for two bids, one for about $10,000.00, another for about $25,000.00. We ran across an article last week talking about the Dell's new head of Customer Service--Dick Hunter (no, we are not kidding that is really his name). After reading this article we were somewhat hopeful that Dell was going away from the Dark Side and attempting to make changes. We started to reconsider selling Dell's as resellers again. So, we emailed John Pitts at Dell and pretty much gave him what we call "raw format" which is just the plain truth and no sugar coating it. We told him that in the past we resold for Dell and that we had become unhappy with their service and how they were doing things so we stopped, but that we wanted to give it another shot and see how it goes. Needless to say we were not wildly enthusiastic about getting Dell quotes, but were open to taking a fresh look at them. We sent John some emails of the computers we wanted quoted and he got back the quotes on a timely basis and then we think we asked one too many questions. We asked him how much standard shipping was and how much of a discount they give their resellers. Well, he never gave us a straight answer on discount and then he gave two conflicting numbers on quotes so we asked another question of which number was right. It turned out that Dell limits promotions to only five computers and we needed a quote on 22 computers. So, it would have been cheaper to order them online (not as a reseller) with five different accounts. Now, we didn't mention that last fact to John, but after we asked him about what discount and shipping charges he called and said that he didn't think we were cut out for his team. We simply said ok. He went on to say that they wanted people who were enthusiastic about their products and we responded that we understood that. He kept talking going on and on and finally we interrupted him and said, "John if you don't want to sell us the computers then that is fine there is nothing else to say." We get that Dell wants people saying good things about their product and they want people excited, but if people are not excited or not saying good things and are giving you a chance to redeem yourself, we think that is worth going for. In short we are back to where we were 6 months ago--we don't like doing business with Dell and we will not do business with Dell in the future.

And this week we met with Mary Carlson and Lori Atkins of Serenity Inc. to discuss marketing possibilities. It sure sounds like the physical universe knocking at the door asking, "Do you really mean it?"

Prints & Booklets

Today the prints and booklets arrived from Jason, so we will figure out a way to get these out to all the folks who were part of the Geek Dinner. The attractive prints by Hugh MacLeod are signed and numbered, and the booklets are titled "Wine Blogging as Marketing Disruption". In a post today at GapingVoid, Hugh asks:

I'm wondering if, how and when this thing is going to scale outside of the blogosphere, into the mainstream, where it needs to eventually end up. Or will it just get stuck in the "Echo Chamber Of Death", like so many other blog-related enterprises?

The Purple Perspective of the Future

Our Purple Shamrocks are doing very well indeed on the west side windows facing Baker Street, as are the Ponytail Palm, Devil's Backbone, Monster Fern, and Little Fern on the south side facing Sixth Street. The Snake Plant, a.k.a. Mother-In-Law's Tongue, is more to the interior, which seems to suit it just fine, thank you very much!

Three doors east down Sixth Street is the administrative office of Serenity Inc., with its purple door. We have been in discussions with Mary Carlson, soon to be Board President, about the possibility of TLCmagic doing some Marketing/Branding/Presence work for them, and there are more discussions to come. Is serenity in our future? It is hard to tell since we are more the Wild and Crazy type!

TLCmagic Bounce When IT Counts

Last December, just for kicks, we did a parody of the Sony: Colour Like No Other commercial. Instead of 250,000 Superballs, we used 25 Purple Beach Balls (part of our Global MicroBranding); instead of San Francisco, CA, we used Mountain Home, AR (part of our Global MicroBrand). We do not know why we did not get it out sooner, but here it is now. Hope you enjoy!

The Past and the Future

It took us a few days to recover from last Saturday's Geek Dinner, but now we are refreshed and looking into the Future.

A little over a year ago when Lenovo purchased IBM's PC Unit, we thought it would up the competition level for Dell, and help us all escape Dell Hell. We also thought that TLCmagic would see a growing market locally for custom built pc's and computer repairs. Those were some of the reasons why we rented an Office on the Corner on the Square in Mountain Home, and began our Intern and Associates Program. Now, as we start looking at where things are headed in the near future it seems to us that computer repair is going to become just like color television repair (why repair it when you can buy a new one for $300?). It seems computers are becoming a bit of a commodity, and with Wal-Mart going into the Custom Computer Biz, the Commoditification will be complete. Sure there will be some of the people that want top of the line computers and they won't be able to get them at Wal-Mart, but the majority of people will just buy a cheap PC that is definately not worth repairing.

Networking and Support continues on for businesses and is what our focus has been on the last year, but they too are going down the same road. As new OS's come out like Vista they are becoming easier and easier to use so that anyone can setup a small network. Web Design continues, but is being replaced by things like Google Pages, and of course, Blogs, and so down the same road.

So as we look into where things are headed for computers and technology in the future we must rethink, rebuild, and tweak promptly and become a Wildly Agile Business. We might even decide to Go Bedouin. But thank goodness for Global MicroBranding!

Geek Dinner Rare!

Geek Dinner Mick Linda

Geek Dinner Grace

Geek Dinner Beef Pork

Geek Dinner Tasting

Geek Dinner Hauling

Geek Dinner Good

Geek Dinner Goodness

Geek Dinner Pose

Geek Dinner Likes

Geek Dinner Pino Whatever

Geek Dinner Wine

Geek Dinner Lite Side

Geek Dinner Paper Towels

Geek Dinner Barbeque & Wine

Geek Dinner Test

Geek Dinner Marking Glasses

Geek Dinner Favorites

Stormhoek Geek Dinner Mountain Home, Arkansas Photos