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!