Sweet!

Okay, we've blown through two batches of toffee and the fudge I brought in yesterday lasted about an hour (Kelli...). But I've got Christmas cut-outs this morning, so come and get 'em before Jeff needs his sugar fix.

Other sweetness -
Our Nintendo DS price is the best in town. $135 - but tax free! Better than the $129.99 plus tax Best Buy charges (do the math, it works!).
All new generation MacBooks and MacBook Pros are $50 below the ACADEMIC price.
We've got some cool music keyboards in stock, one on display, and rumor has it 'Tair took 12 years of lessons, so I'm sure he'll play a few Christmas tunes for us.
My USB beverage coolers are in stock now. :)
We've got PSPs and Wiis on the way. Again, super cool deals, y'all. Check back here for availability.

K. Coffee time for me. Laters!

OMG! He won a MACBOOK!

Eric.
Won.
A.
MACBOOK.
Congratulations, Eric!

Kelli rockin' the crowd!

Our Bouncer!

Racquel doing crowd control.

Are you intimidated yet?

iPod Touch Winner!

Hooray for Joel, the winner of the iPod touch! This guy made so much noise the whole campus heard!

It's busy around here - reeeeeeal busy!

Santa and her elves!

iPod Classic Winner

Congratulations to Stephen, the winner of our iPod Classic!

BTW, the locusts have now polished off the last of the Herseys Miniatures I brought in and we're down to just a few little candy canes. Get 'em while the gettings good!

Nano winner!

Congratulations to Katie, the winner of our iPod nano!

And sorry, toffee's gone for today. I got a few more pans at home, so come back tomorrow for a taste ;)

Game on!

We're here, we're having fun and we're giving away the store! Here's me as Mrs. Claus. My homemade toffee's going fast, so get here fast for yours!

Congrats to Audrey, the winner of our first drawing of the day, a 2GB iPod shuffle!

Reindeer #1 - Jeff the Surly reindeer

Reindeer #2 - Glenn, my general manager. He's Rudolph because he's our leader!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Long time, no blog!

Shortly after my last entry I had to fly back to the mainland unexpectedly. :( And so since then I've been playing catch-up. Anyhow, I'm back, firing on all cylinders (well, as close to it as a goof like me can get), and gearing up for Christmas.

So here's the deal: November 20th, 2008. FREE iPODS and a MACBOOK. FREE. NO CATCH. Okay, one little catch. You gotta be here to win.

It's gonna happen like this:

* Extended hours, open 8am-6pm. $5 t-shirts and hats and cheap cookbooks, etc. After 4pm, everything in the store will be an extra 10% off (with a few exceptions)
* Starting at 9:00am, we're gonna give away stuff every 2 hours. First a shuffle, then a nano, then a classic, then a touch, until finally, at 5:00pm (drum-roll please.....) we're giving away a MacBook. Whoo-hoo!
* You GOTTA BE HERE to win. if we call your name and you ain't here, we're movin' on to the next name!

So it should be awesome. I'll have homemade candy and cookies on hand. My trial batch of toffee has gotten rave reviews. And I got a cute Mrs. Claus costume coming and a special dispensation from the boss to ditch my uniform for the occasion to wear it. And 'Tair and the kids will all have Santa hats, so come for some cool deals, sweet treats, and a photo with the gang.

I thought about getting Roland a Grinch costume, but I don't think I'd be able to wrestle him into it. Oh well.

As for cool things for Christmas, I'm bringing in a few PSPs, Nintodo DSs and even a couple of Wii's. And yes, my prices will be very competitive - AND tax-free. We've got some sweet cameras, digital picture frames, some musical instruments, and awesome audio coming in, too. OMG, we even found this "USB Beverage Chiller" - it's like a coaster that you plug it into your computer and it'll keep your adult-type beverage cool and frosty while you surf. Just ordered it all, so crossing my fingers and hoping to have it for the 20th. Otherwise, just keep coming back throughout the season, we'll have plenty of neat stuff.

A big sigh of relief...

All I can say is...

Wow.

Tech Fair '08 was an awesome success. Humor me now while I thank:

Joe Ruiz from D&H who flew all the way in from Pennsyl-freakin-vania, missing his own anniversary, to help us out.

Herb from Mobile Edge - of all the laptop case vendors we deal with, he was the only one who came to show his love in person.

Kepano, Christina and Grant from Apple who gave us all FREE APPLES!!!

Roy from Dell and his side-kick Zach who pulled together that COOL Guitar Hero event!

Larry, Sandra, Jody and the gang from ITS who put so much effort into their Phishing game!

Jason from Honolulu CC who dropped everything to lend a hand.

Glenn, my GM, who did so much of the grunt-work for me because I was clueless about logistics.

The entire MES crew who did the heavy lifting.

Kawika from HP for showing up at the last minute.

Donna and the gang from marketing who dropped everything to lend a hand.

My utterly amazing staff - Roland, Altair, Jeff, Kelli and Racquel, who always play along with my goofy schemes with minimal groaning.

My customers, who are so loyal, fun, and downright COOL.


Okay. I got that out of my system. Now for the news items: CS4 is starting to ship; different products are scheduled to go out on different dates over the next month. The new MacBooks are expected in a week(ish); call us at 956-4317 if you wanna get on a wait-list. I celebrated my 29th birthday yet again; Jeff thoughtfully gave me the gift of cheese. Roy-the-Dell-Boy had his 21st birthday but TOTALLY BAILED the day we were all gonna meet at the Garden to share a round. Prices on discontinued Macs are AWESOME and they're going FAST; check out our prices on Pros in particular... oh... my... goodness. You really need to check out our new line of Isis Dei laptop sleeves; interestingly enough, our biggest sellers are the ones made from hemp. And on that note, is it merely a coincidence that our most popular headphones happen to be the Skullcandy "Smokin' Buds"? Hmmmm.... And October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - we carry laptop cases, iPod cases and flash drives from brands that contribute a portion of their sales to research. And they're cuuuuuute!

Adobe Creative Suite 4

Big announcement today. If you are in the market for Adobe software, PLEASE READ.

Today, Sept. 23rd, Adobe announced the release of their CS4 software.

We will not have this product in-stock before early to mid November, as the tentative first shipment from Adobe to our distributors is slated for October 29th. That's for the regular retail product; it'll be a few weeks later for student licensing.

But it is still a great time to buy and here's why. First, there are some anticipated price changes for the CS4 products. Some prices will remain the same, but others will rise between $50 and $100 each. Specific information has not yet been made available to me yet as to which titles, specifically, will experience price changes.

Second, if you purchase CS3.3 between now and December 22, you are eligible for a FREE upgrade to to CS4, by following these instructions:

Technology Guarantee (Grandfather) Information:
Eligibility Period: September 23 – December 22, 2008
End of Claims: January 6, 2009
Process:
· Shrink/Box/Student license customers must contact Adobe Customer Service (800-833-6687) directly to claim their post-announce upgrade. They will need to supply the following:
Dated proof of purchase from an Adobe Authorized Reseller
Product Serial Number
Product, language and platform
Name and physical shipping address
Daytime phone number and email address

Your very own bailout...

Wow. I'm mad as...heck...

I tried to write a blog post last week. But I couldn't publish it. Was too angry.

My point was that prices are going up. And it ain't right. And it ain't fair. But that's the situation. It'll be toner cartridges and headphones in the short term. More to come, I'm sure.

And I HATE raising prices. Why? Because I love you guys. I really do. I firmly believe and try to instill in everyone I hire that we work here for the sole purpose to support and enhance the academic experience of the students of the University of Hawaii. And I know how broke college kids are (it wasn't THAT long ago I was one of you), and I know departments are strapped for cash. And the price of everything you need to keep body and soul together is high and going higher.

So I HATE raising my prices and making you feel any more squeezed than you already are. But what makes me EVEN angrier is the government handing out BILLIONS - even a HALF-TRILLION just this week - to bail out the lying, cheating, stealing bankers and pin-striped bandits on Wall Street while you people get the shaft.

So, I'm very HAPPY to give you - my lovely, wonderful, loyal customers - a bailout of your very own. You want cheap iPods? How's $49 for a 4GB 2nd gen nano, $79 for an 8GB nano or $129 for an 80GB 5G iPod sound? Cheap computers? How about we take $100 bucks off your MacBooks, $150 off iMacs and $200 off MacBook Pros?

Cheap not good enough for you? How about FREE?

October 15th we're gonna host the first of what I hope becomes an annual tech fair here at Manoa. Apple, Dell and Sony are gonna offer up FREE laptops as prizes. Also plenty of free prizes from Logitech, Adobe, Case Logic, Belkin, MobileEdge, Speck, and more.

Lots more.

Thanks to Joe from D&H Distributing for helping make this happen. He's AWESOME, and he's coming all the way from PA because I told him how cool you all are, and I hope you all get to meet and share some aloha with him. Come to Campus Center from 10-2 on the 15th. Challenge our Dell rep on Guitar Hero. Show some Sony love. Test your Apple smarts. Get free stuff and have fun.

Save the date - see you there!

Like reading Life Magazine

For those of you who prefer to look at all the pretty pictures rather than reading too many big words, we have a Life Magazine style blog entry this week.


Jeff, Altair and Mariann, as we waited for Nico to show up for lunch at Bubba's. He was roughly an hour late at this point. Which, as you can see, just THRILLED Altair.


Altair and Jeff with the newest addition to our zoo...er...sales staff, Kelli! Hooray - finally a little class around this place!


Jason, the Manager-in-Training over at HCC. That's Kepano, our Apple Dude, in the background. Seems Jason got the wrist injury in a Judo match. We'd tell you how the match turned out, but they haven't yet finished contacting his opponent's next of kin.


We're giving away REALLY cool stuff for the HCC Tech Fair. So cool, in fact, that this particular young lady is trying VERY hard to win (much to the embarrassment of her out-of-the-shot boyfriend).


Our unsung heros, Shipping and Receiving, plus a Friend of the Department, from left to right: Lloyd, receiving; Kenji, shopkeeper; Debbie, clothing buyer; Kevin, shipping; Reynold, warehouse

It's heeeeeeeere!

ADOBE. STUDENT LICENSING. IN-STOCK NOW. GET YOURS.

In other news...Office Pro 2007 is still $89 through Sept. 15...

...this weekend we said our official goodbyes to Nico and Mariann. The pain of our parting was matched only by the pain of our overstuffed stomachs from lunch at Bubba Gump...

...Jeff's back, new and improved - come see for yourself! Also, we're adding a new member to our team. Be sure to stop by and say Aloha to Kelli, who'll be starting just as soon as HR gets the paperwork processed...

...HCC people - we've got a new facebook page just for you! Fan us! AND we'll be having Tech Daze 2008 up there on the breezeway all next week. Stop by to play with the equipment and register to win free stuff - and I mean GOOD free stuff! Altair will be up there on the 4th for "Meet the Geek Day", so write down all your questions and see if you can stump him. Roland will be there on the 5th to talk to anyone who has questions about departmental purchasing...

...MCC people - be there for the Bookstore Grand Opening on the 4th. Sales, games and GOOD PRIZES. Yours-truly will be in da house (am I too old to use "da"?), so stop by and say hey...

Okay, that's it for now. I'm closing the shop today and it's just about time to hit the lights and give the stragglers the oh-so-subtle hint that we wanna go home. Blog ya later!

IMPORTANT ADOBE UPDATE

Okay, the mystery SEEMS to be solved with the missing Adobe Student Licensed Software. It seems that, instead of shipping via air, it all wound up on a cargo ship. I finally got the tracking number on it from my vendor. The last time FedEx scanned it was on the 18th in Mira Loma, CA. No official ETA on it according to FedEX, BUT our receiving department did get a call asking to schedule a large drop on Monday. Soooooooo....

...IF this stuff is with that order they called about...

...and IF the truck drops as scheduled...

...we should, in THEORY have this stuff on Monday. Now, please bear in mind that even if everything gets delivered, there's still about 800+ pieces of this software that must be counted, sorted and tagged before we can sell anything. So please don't show up at 8:00am looking for it. FedEx delivers mid-day normally and it'll take us a few hours to process everything. Once it's all ready, if you're on our wait list, we will call or e-mail you ASAP. I will also post here and on Facebook immediately once it's all available.

In other news, congrats to all the lucky people who entered and won in our NSO resource fair drawing. Check out Facebook for photos of their smiling faces!

The good, the bad and the ugly

The savvy movie fan will note that the photo of Clint Eastwood shown above is technically NOT from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"; that's him as The Man With No Name from "Fist Full of Dollars". At a previous job I pursuaded the people making IDs to put that same photo on my ID in place of my lovely face. I wanted to run an experiment to see how long it took the unobservant security guards to notice the error.

One year later I quit to move here. It was never found out.

Anyway, hey, awesome news! First, the Adobe student licensing HAS SHIPPED AT LAST. Looks like it's coming via UPS ground, but we should have it in a week. After contract issue we had invoice issues and then a credit limit issue - since I ordered about $250K of the stuff. But it's all be resolved and is on it's way. Yippeeeeee!

Next, Microsoft is having pity on all you poor starving college kids, grossly underpaid staff and faculty (tell me about it!) AND underfunded departments and is going to be offering Office 2007 Pro for PC for (drum roll) $89. No, that is NOT the student license - it's the regular boxed version. Yes, it allows multiple installs! Yes, departments and non-UH academics can buy it! No, I'm not kidding!

Unfortuneately, poor widdle Mac folks, you always get the shaft. The best deal I can do for you is $20 off. Both of these sales will start Monday, the 11th and run through Sept 15th.

All iMacs are back in stock. We'd run out of 3 models while I was out, but we begged and pleaded and got them back in WITH the continued $50 discount. Boo-yah! Also, got some more MacBooks and Pros, and we'll continue to hold our present discounting throughout the BTS season.

New Sonys are on their way, including one model we're gonna start at just $689. Because yes, we are just that awesome. Look for a pricelist up on our website by next week.

Now for the bad and the ugly news (cue the violins)...prices on HP toner cartridges are starting to rise dramatically, and I now find myself having to start raising prices for the first time since I got here almost 3 years ago. Stinks, don't it? Me, I lay the blame squarely in the hands of Ben Bernanke and the Fed govenors who, by printing money out of thin air to bail out bankers are devaluing your savings and paychecks. Nice of them, eh? Reward the irresponsible with money stolen from the honest and hard-working. And if you REALLY wanna know what I think of these jerks, feel free to stop in to the store and engage me antytime. A caution - only do so if you have PLENTY OF TIME to listen to me rant.

Anyway, I promise I'll try to hold prices down as long as I can. The next shoe to fall will be us being hit with fuel surcharges on the shipping, but it hasn't hit yet.

Glad to be back?

As I'm SURE you all noticed, I was out on vacation for about a week and a half. As I had to repeatedly tell Nico, no, I didn't go anywhere, just stayed home and watched the Coppertop, who, incidentally, celebrated his 8th birthday and now officially ranks as the world's most spoiled child. His haul included a Rock Band rig, because I was tired of having to go to Best Buy every Saturday with the kid and wait in line to play it. So I am now officially a total diva and can sincerely say I ROCK.

Okay, so, work-related stuff...

Free printers are running low. Get yours while you can!

We've had about 25-30 of the $100 Apple Care coupons come back, so don't wait too long - they'll probably be done by the start of school.

We're on the verge of losing Mariann and Nico in a month, so we're advertising for 2 student positions now. Computer experience is NOT necessary. That's why we keep Altair on had. You'll learn, trust me. We DO need someone who's personable, intelligent, and hopefully, cool. Interested parties should look us up on the SECE website.

We're havin' a party! Whoo-hoo! Save the date - October 15th we'll be hosting a tech fair in the campus center building. There will be sales and demos and worskhops and games with prizes. Good prizes. I'm talking big stuff, stuff you want. Be there...

Okay, the valerian's kicking in so I gotta sign off. And if any of y'all wanna see a particular demo or workshop or have game ideas for the tech fair, LMK via e-mail or comments here. There MAY be some material incentive if you're idea's good, k? ;)

Print this out!

Hey-

Cool new deal. The next 100 customers to purchase a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro can click, print and present this coupon to receive $100 off the purchase of Apple Care. This offer is good for personal, individual purchases (sorry departments!) only and applies only to in-stock, standard-config machines ONLY. Questions? Call 956-4301!

We're "special" in Honolulu!

As those of you who have bothered to read my profile already know, one of my all-time-favorite movies is Blazing Saddles. Those who've seen the movie will understand why the photo shown above is the result of me kneeling in the middle of the produce section at a certain local grocery store, laughing my @$$ off, while my husband whispered loudly in my ear to "get up, everyone's staring at you".

The rest of you need to go out and buy yourselves a sense of humor. Or rent the movie. Whatever.

So, I'm back from Maui. The store is looking great! A few issues: because the contractor was behind schedule (of course!), they hadn't finnished pulling cable for the data jacks. So I was unable to set up the nice little network I'd planned on. If you're an MCC student and wanna use a computer there, the only way to do it is by hopping on the UH network. If you're not sure how to access it, ask for AJ there at the store. He knows EVERYTHING.

Also, we were unable to locate some hard drives and ethernet cables we'd sent down from Manoa, and not all the Adobe software had arrived. Oh. And my nails look like crap now. One of them cracked horizontally across the friggin' middle and is bloody.

Ow.

On the upshot, got to see Jeff.



He showed up, willing to help, but we didn't have much for him to do until Thursday, and by then he was due at Genki Sushi for a shift. But he and I got to share some nachos and a drink, so it's all good.

Spent my evenings watching movies I'd downloaded of iTunes, and remembering why I forgot "The Mummy Returns": it sucks!

And now I'm set to wait until nightfall. I have my stash of fireworks and rum - nuthin' says "Independence" quite like drinkin' and blowin' stuff up. The way the Founders intended.

Yeehaw. See you on Monday.

Like peeling a banana

It's nearly 9pm and I just got the Coppertop to sleep. But i have a perfectly good explanation for that - see, last Thursday all the Daycampers at the Nu'uanu YMCA participated in "Water Sports", which, as I understand it, is a chance for the counselors to set the ankle-biters loose in an open field and turn the hoses on them. And of course both my husband and I mistakenly thought the other had slathered him with sunblock, and as a result he he came home with a back the color of the one iPod nano Apple won't let me sell (here's a hint - it ain't the green one).

I have that mother of the year title totally locked this year!

So anyway, I let him stay up because his back was itchy and he wanted me to peel it. Yes, kiddies, this is what having children is like. But he was cool with it, downright excited even. Because no matter what Mom said, he's convinced his skin was not peeling as a result of sun damage. He thinks he's molting because his body is ready to grow much taller because that's what his teacher taught him in their chapter on lizards and she's a teacher so obviously she's much more knowledgeable about such matters than some old dummy who hawks computers for a living.

Well, one thing I DO know is how to get a deal on a computer. So I hit Apple up for some more discounting and, being that it was the end of a quarter they were willing to wheel and deal to boost their sales figures. This NEVER happens during BTS, but it did this time! Sooooo here's the deal: I will NOT be raising my prices on MacBook Pros. I'll be holding those steady at $100 off. Shucks, I may even be able to drop the prices on Apple Care or simply bundle it in for free. Haven't decided that yet, and I probably won't make up my mind until next week. You'll read it here first, whatever I decide to do.

Heck, you people will know the deal before Roland. Dude never reads my blog.

BTW, the reason why it'll take me a week to make up my mind is NOT (only) because I'm a chick; I'm actually going to Maui and will probably be too busy to crunch the numbers. We're opening up a new store there and I'm going to trick out the computer section. Don't call me, because frankly, I HATE voice mail, but if you need to reach me, I'll be trying to keep up with e-mails, or call my kids at 956-4317 and they can get a message to me on my cell.

In other news, Acrobat 9 and CS3.3 started shipping Thursday. Saw some boxes on the loading dock today - might have been it. Yippee!

Oh, and for all of you who were kind enough to wish me luck with inventory - thanks! You're awesome. It went well except for one thing - the Garden was CLOSED and so we couldn't get our traditional after-inventory nerve-calmer. Got a little tense there for a moment; Altair looked like he was gonna get the shakes. But on Mariann's advice we went over to Yogurtland instead and got high on merely sugar instead. If you've never been, you gotta try it!

I've got issues

We're taking inventory this Friday, so if any y'all stop into the store and happen to see me curled up on the floor in a fetal position, weeping...eh, just keep going. I should be fine come Monday.

ANYWAY, a few issues I wanted to make you all aware of:

1. We got an AWESOME deal on some EOL 17" MacBook Pros - $1699 with FREE AppleCare. Thus far I'm only bringing in 10 and 3 are already spoken for. If there's sufficient demand I can maybe order some more, but you have to let me know, like, TODAY.
2. I'm running low on my current stock of MacBook Pros. When I reorder, they'll cost more. If you've been planning on getting one, do it now. They'll be going up $100 in about a week!
3. Because of inventory, we'll have to cut our sales of computers off early on Friday. If you NEED to buy a computer on Friday, please come in to do it before 2PM or call ahead and let us know so we can pull it and have it ready. Because once we start counting our storage areas, we cannot remove merchandise. Period. Monday will be back to normal.
4. Roland's back! Hooray for Roland. Everyone call and pester him (956-5089). After 3.5 weeks of vacation, he looks like he needs a little stress in his life. It's good for the soul and builds character.
5. I will be out of the office next week after Tuesday. I'll be at Maui CC to help get their new store ready to open. If you need to get a hold of me, call my staff; they've got my cell number.

Okay, I think that covers. Wish me luck with the inventory, and I'll blog you on the other side!

Things to worry about on a Monday

I was just updating my FaceBook page. I have one of those dumb apps on there where you and your friends rank each other. Which is totally retarded because they'll give you random choices for a question like, "Who would you rather flirt with?" and the options are either my auntie or my friend's teenage daughter. Ummm, I'm gonna click "skip" on that one...

So anyway, I got ranked #1 among my friends as the best singer and the most organized. And that has me totally bummed. I thought these people were supposed to be my friends, but now I realize my they don't know me AT ALL. They SHOULD have voted me #1 hottest. And THEN my cousin sent me a doughnut with the Krispy Kreme app, which would be cool except she gave me a chocolate glazed one, and I HATE chocolate. Which makes me seriously question our relationship. Maybe I need to find some new friends... ;)

In other news, Altair is back from his long weekend touring breweries in the Northwest and came into work this morning sans headache, so it's all good

And speaking of it being all good, just for those of you who read this stuff (and I'm finding out that's quite an ecclectic mix of people - howzit, Violet!), while supplies last, buy a new Mac and we'll give you a free printer. No, it ain't a rebate. You just gotta ask and we'll give it to you. A Canon MP210. Because we got a lot of 'em and inventory's coming up and frankly, I don't wanna hafta count 'em. And that's the best work ethic I can manage on a Monday morning, folks. Lucky you!

TOUCH...a killer whale?

Spent the earlier part of the week in Cali. Surprisingly, it was pretty friggin' cold. Glad to be home.

So anyway, I was there for some Campus Resellers Meeting at Apple. And if you haven't heard by now, the BTS program is (drum-roll please...):
Buy a Mac and get a free (after mail-in rebate) 8GB nano OR 8GB touch. AWESOME!

Now, I'm a avid nano girl, so I had my skepticism about the touch. Why would anyone need it, you know? But we did get a demo of the updated iTunes U store front (led by some kid from Apple who talked as though he had 12 cups of espresso coursing through his veins), and I was reminded of the following story:

Last year Big Red's class all had to do projects on sea critters. Dave chose orcas. After plowing through all the 1st grade reading material he'd been fed, he hopped on to iTunes and found some Seaworld and Nat'l Geographic podcasts about them. Which he watched again. And again. And again.

His favorite was this once where 2 orcas caught a sea lion and tossed the thing back and forth like a volleyball. Boys...

Anyway, fast forward a bit and I found myself selling fried noodles along side his teacher at the school fair. She mentioned he was very enthusiastic about his project but didn't take it too well when she told him to take the part about orcas having camouflage out of his paper. "It wasn't in any of the books we had in our room, and I can't just let him make stuff up," she said. I laughed out loud and said, "Mrs. Uyeda, he's not making that up - he learned that from watching a Seaworld video! Homeboy's not gettin' creative on you - he's been doing independent research!" She felt so bad she personally apologized to him later.

But my point is, if my (at that time) 6 year old child can use iTunes as an effective learning tool, YOU PEOPLE out there in UH-land should, IN THEORY, be able to learn and accomplish amazing things on the fly with a touch. And when you get some downtime from saving the planet, there's always YouTube. Pretty funny stuff they got there!

It's Friday Night and I Ain't Got Nobody...

Awwwwww....Copper Top has a touch of fever tonight and is down for the count tonight. Bummer - he has his last soccer game of the season AND his BFF's birthday party tomorrow. I promised him I'd drug him till he was high as a kite to get him to those things (attn: DCFS - by "drugs" I mean, like, Motrin and gummy bear vitamins).

Anyway, since my date for the evening is under the weather, I've got little to do but blog. Random thoughts are as follows:

* Props to SANDRA in ITS -the Adobe contract is now in place! W00t! In plain English - all the student licensing I'm out of should be back in stock in, oh, say, 2 weeks-ish.

* Roland's gone. Vietnam. 3.5 weeks. Usually he drives me up the wall. Now I'm missing him after a day an a half. Is that sick or what?

* I totally need a manicure. Seriously.

* Props to Mike at WCC and Christian at LCC - your orders made my day. And paid my bills. Rock on! Oh, and Warren and Harry - thanks for pickin' up your stuff, too!

* I NEED, as my 5th computer in my 3 member household, a 24" iMac because my prices are so awesome. All suggestions on how to convince my husband of this fact will be greatly appreciated.

* Leaving for the Mothership Sunday. Big meeting there on Tuesday. Hmmmmm...big news may be announced. Could it be Apple's Back-to-School promo? Oooooh, the mystery. Who want's a souvenir pen or key chain?

New 'do, new hue and new price, too!

Got bored on Sunday, so I went out and had about 6" of hair hacked off. Short and shaggy now. I think it's cute!

Got bored on Monday, so I went to Kailua. Brilliant me, I thought, "Well, I don't want my shoulders burned, so I'll put some sunscreen on them. But my belly, that could use a little color." So I got color. A nice scarlet. It practically glows. If it were Christmas, I could put on a bikini and lead Santa's sleigh. Rudolph could use a break.

And I got tired of looking at my clearance iMacs, so I cut the prices another $50 today. I'm awesome.

NEWS FLASH!

Here's the latest on the Adobe Student Licensing contract issue from the ITS Site Licensing Office:

"Great news! UH Procurement proposed alternative language for the Student CLP Terms and the Adobe Legal Team has accepted this change. They will make the new changes and have the draft sent to UH to be signed soon. Hope to get this completed within the next week. I'll keep you posted as soon as I can to let you know when you can place your orders again."

Blah, blah, blah. I know. Here's the English translation: I should be able to place new orders very soon and we can get some of those software titles we're out of back in stock. Wheeee!

Under the knife

Everyone's having work done these days.

Called to my mom yesterday. Yeah, I'm a prize of a daughter. Seems she'd just gotten back from Northwestern Memorial in Chicago (I was a bit surprised - love how she keeps me informed of these things). She's getting ready for a stem cell transplant and Monday they did the harvesting. She's a former biology teacher and told me every gory detail with great enthusiasm. It was truly cringe-worthy.

Mariann's out for the rest of the week. Getting her tonsils out today. I'm sure she'll feel much better in the long-run, but can you imagine a Mariann with no voice for a few days? Poor thing must be going crazy!

And, as you can see, our department's having some work done, as well. Well, sort of. Campus Center is removing that concrete seating area that's right over our heads, so I guess they have to barricade some areas off so we don't manage to hurt ourselves.

Soooooo...in the spirit of things, I'm going to cut the price of our clearance iMacs by ANOTHER $50 on May 26th. Woo-hoo! (But don't no one tell Roland, k? I'm waiting to see how long it takes that guy to read this blog)

The price of gas is going down...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Hahaha-wheeeee! Yesterday the government told us that the price of gas has declined in recent weeks. Inflation is under control! Laughed so hard, I thought I'd cry. Them boys sure got a sense of humor!

But since I still give you enough credit for seeing through the phoney-baloney numbers the feds crank out and realize that inflation is rampant (in all aspects of life except my paycheck, OF COURSE), we're gonna give you a break. We're taking another $50 off our clearance iMacs starting Monday, May 19. Then you can take the money you save and buy yourself a good half a tank, or maybe 1 gallon of milk and a dozen eggs, or, you know, whatever!

Adobe Update

I had a customer describe me recently as uber-cool. What a way to stroke an old lady's ego. :) But today the ever-lovin' vog has me feeling uber-crappy. My head is splitting, so I've got my shoes off and am hiding at my desk pushing papers. Among the papers pushed: an inventory level report on our Student Licensed Adobe products. The good news: we've still got plenty of our most popular products. The bad news: you're SOL if you're looking for:
* CS3 Design Standard for Mac
* Photoshop Extended for Mac
* Acrobat Pro for Windows
And we've only got 6 of the CS3 Design Premium for Windows. Again, no word on the progress of the contract. So I have no clue when the new one will be in place. Sorry. Nuthin' I can do about it, but I'll let you know as soon as I'm able to get those back on order.

In further sad news - lost Jeff today. No, he ain't dead; just back on Maui for the summer. NOW who will give me brutally honest fashion criticism?

But, happy-happy joy-joy: Mariann is graduating on Sunday AND she got accepted to grad school for the fall AND she'll continue to work this summer. Yippee! Congrats, Mariann!

Pardon Our Dust...

Oh, yippee. I was told this morning that we've got more construction starting on Monday, the 19th. Seems Campus Center wants to rip out that concrete seating that, natch, is RIGHT OVER MY DEPARTMENT. Of course. And while they do that we'll be losing a little bit of space. As a result, we lost room for our MacMini demo. It'll be popping up on our clearance list sometime today. There's only one and it'll be cheap, so first-come, first-served.

Fun, fun, fun on a Tuesday night!

I am now officially a soccer mom, which apparently means my life is over, or at least my measurable level of coolness is in sharp decline. The proof? I have nothing better to do on a Tuesday night than blog about work.

BTW, the Red-Headed Wonder shown above is Dave, my 7-soon-to-be-8 YO son. He's shown wearing his new AYSO season's jersey for team "White Lightning". Now, pardon me, but where I come from (Hampshire, Illinois, population >2000) White Lightning is another term for moonshine (for pop-culture reference, go to iTunes and download "White Lightning" by George Jones). I know this because in my youth every now and then my father would bring home a peanut butter jar full of the stuff from an appreciative customer who was cookin' it up in a still out back of the barn. The stuff was so wicked the fumes of it corroded the metal lid on the jar.

Ahhh, life in the country...

Anyhow...found out something interesting today. After a month of this Roland finally figured out we had a blog and took exception to the photo I posted of him. "That's why I never go out with you people! Pictures like this end up on-line!" Come on. It wasn't unflattering - just candid.

Work stuff: I was asked a question twice today, so I thought I'd write about the subject here, since it's obviously on folks' minds. The question was, "Will there be a better deal on Macs for Back to School?" My answer: yes and no. Look - this is how I buy from Apple most of the year: I call up Richard, my inside man, and tell him, "I need X number of units; can you gimme a break?" Richard e-mails me an offer, and then with these bulk orders I can offer y'all some pretty great deals. But at BTS Apple does a corporate-wide program, which is usually along the lines of "Buy a Mac and an iPod and we'll give you a rebate for the iPod". That's a killer deal if you need or want an iPod. The down-side is that once Apple starts that BTS offer, they turn off the discount spigot. Last year they announced it the first week of June. Probably will do the same this year.

So here's what it all means - I can only sell computers cheap as long as I bought them cheap. My PLAN is to - as much as I can - buy like mad between the middle to end of May and bring in enough computers to carry us through Back to School. That way I can give you a discount on the computer AND you can get the iPod rebate, too. The obstacles - first, sometimes it's hard to predict what model will be the big seller and buy accordingly (opinions about the next hot model? Please comment on this post - any and all help is appreciated!), which means I could run out. The result would be I have to buy more - and sell them - at a higher price. Second, space is really, really limited. My storage space has been cut dramatically, even as our sales have just exploded. It's a serious problem, where to put all the stuff once I buy it.

Sigh. Well, maybe that youth I misspent playing Tetris endlessly will come in handy when all my computers arrive. Wish me luck!

Is it Friday yet?

God love the lawyers...

Look, there are certain things we need to have contracts to sell. Adobe Student Licensing is one of those things. That's the software we sell for, like, pennies on the dollar. CS3 Design Premium for $299 (instead of the $3K you'd pay in the real world), for example. Now, we don't actually hash out that contract here inhouse - the University's ITS Site Licensing Office handles that.

Those are the folks who contacted me about 6 weeks ago to let me know that the new contract was in the works and was expected to be in place in "2-3 weeks". At that time I was asked if I had enough stock to get us through, and at that time I did.

But today I needed to place a re-order and found out the contract is still not in place. Seems UH and Adobe are passing it back and forth, and it will probably be at least another few weeks before that's settled and I'm able to finally place an order. Then it will be another 1-2 weeks before we get that order in.

We just ran out of CS3 Design Standard for Mac today, and we're getting low on a few others. So I'm really sorry folks, but there's just nothing I can do to get that stuff back in until the contract is in place. I'll keep y'all posted...

In happier news, we should have the new iMacs and the MB404LL/A (black) MacBooks landing tomorrow - at least so says FedEx. I SUPPOSE the delivery truck could get lost or something, but barring that we should get 'em. Please call before coming down though - bear in mind we don't know what time FedEx will drop, then we need a few hours after they do to get everything checked in and tagged. If you want a call or e-mail when they're good to go, give us a ring: 956-4317.

And the winner is....

Congrats to Darin, the winner of the grand prize, a free Epson printer, which we gave away for Jeff's birthday. Congrats to all the other winners, and thanks to all who came in to wish Jeff a happy birthday. A great time was had by all.

The party continued Tuesday after work; we all went over the the Garden and shared adult-type beverages with Jeff for the first time. EVEN ROLAND CAME (he usually avoids being seen with the rest of us in social settings at all costs). It was a momentous occasion. See photographic evidence below.



Other momentous news: we now have Brenthaven's Zero Impact line in stock - premium quality laptop bags and cases the are as friendly to you body as they are to the environment. ISkin sale ends tomorrow! And we've got 20% off iMainGo speakers through next week. If you haven't heard them, come on in - an AWESOME sound in a small package for a really small price!

My pain is your gain

I know you people love the price drops, but they never fail to cause me a royal pain in the rear.

I know some of y'all out there think we're getting super-secret advance-notice spy messages from Apple warning us when new product is coming, but we don't. The closest I ever get to that is when my officially-declared "Favorite Customer" (he knows who he is - I love you all, but only one of you has it in writing from me) sends me links to articles at the rumor mill sites hinting there might be something coming.

So in short, no, I don't have a Bat-phone that puts me in direct contact with Steve Jobs. I know you all think I'm that cool, and maybe I am, but there's no Bat-phone. Sorry.

So anyway, new iMacs out today. They'll be hitting the shelves next week sometime. And so I FINALLY was able to hash out with Roland new pricing and wrestle the new prices on our current remaining inventory into our whiz-bang computerized inventory system here. Whew! What a chore! Anyway, prices start at $999. See the main site for full specs and pricing.

And AppleCare is coming off sale (right now it's $20 off) on Wednesday. So if you've been on the fence, do it quick, baby!

And get down here and get your name in for Jeff's birthday drawing. Woot!

Fair warning...

Heads-up! I have good news and bad - I'm taking all iPod nanos and classics off sale on Monday - but I'm slashing the prices on MacBook Pros! Models MA896LL/A and MA897LL/A will come down another $100, and MB133LL/A, MB134LL/A and MB166LL/A will come down $50 more!

Moral of the story - buy your iPods quick, and buy your MBPs next week!

Running on empty

Hey, bargain hunters - we're running low on clearance MacBooks, but here's a secret - on those MB061LL/B and MB063LL/B models, we're DOWN, but NOT OUT!

No, I'm not lying on my website - I just post up there our inventory at Manoa only. We do have a few of those machines left (and I mean, very few) at UH Hilo, and Windward and Maui CC's, which we'll be happy to recall back here if you ask us extra-special nice-like.

Also...iSkin sale starts today, Shoreline sale ends on Saturday.

And in other news - Hawaii Foodbank is running their annual Food Drive through the end of this month. I hear donations are way down this year - as they are across the country. Times are hard, what with the Fed blowing up the dollar and this ridiculous ethanol initiative that takes food and puts it in gas tanks (all for neutral to negative energy production - that means it takes as much energy or more to produce ethanol than we get out of it!) that's sending food prices sky-high. But I know that all of us who are gainfully employed have something to share, you know? Me, here's my stategy - I'm going to empty out my pantry, check the expiration dates, and all those cans of Spam, Beefaroni, sardines (:p yuck, but my husband eats them) and Chunky Soup that I can't seriously picture myself eating before the year's out are getting donated. Wish me luck - it's going to be a big job; my pantry's so stuffed we're ready for Armageddon and beyond!

If you'd like to donate but don't know where to drop off, bring it to our counter. We have a bin in the back for employee donations and we're happy to chip in yours, too.

We're havin' a party!

Awwww...Jeff (a.k.a., the baby of the Computer Dept family) is having a birthday - and it's the big TWO-ONE, baby! It's the 27th, which is a Sunday, and since we're not open on Sundays, we'll be celebrating on Monday the 28th (provided Jeff's able to drag himself in the day after). And sweethearts that we are - YOU get the gifts! Thus far we've got a printer (I mean, a REALLY nice one), a Swiss Army laptop case (wonder if it has a cork-screw in it....), iFrogz Audio Wrapz and SkullCandy stuff to give away - just for coming in to say happy birthday to our boy! Woo-hoo! Be there....

On the road again...

For those of you who don't already know, I'm a bit of a tree-hugger. So much so that I refused to buy a car for nearly 3 years. But recently we found a car that NOT ONLY gets better milage than a Prius, but can be run totally off a sustainable, renewable, locally produced fuel source. I'm talking about my super-cute new VW Jetta TDI, baby!

It's a diesel, get it? And we pump only locally produced Pacific Biodiesel fuel in it, which is made from recovered restaurant cooking oil waste. Neat!

And NO, my car does NOT smell like I have french fries or Chinese take-out in the tailpipe, nor do I have "every dog in the neighborhood" chasing my car, as some have suggested would be the case with the biodiesel. It's just sooooo cute. And efficient.

Did I mention it's really, really cute, too?

Anyway, took it up to KCC today. Had a visit with the manager up there. Gave her a couple free samples of iFrogz Audiowrapz iPod cases I'd received. So here's the deal. They work with 3rd gen nanos. They're silicone sleeves that also have speakers built in. Neat. Named best in show at both MacWorld AND CES. So if you're looking for a 3rd gen nano anyway, go to KCC's Bookstore; they've got a couple to give away to whomever buys the next few iPods. And we might give a few away to folks who come in to say Happy Birthday to Jeff on the 28th, too.

And back to tree-hugging - those Act2 GreenSmart laptop cases go on sale TOMORROW, 20% off. Also, cheap printers still on sale until the end of the week!

Woo-hoo! Someone reads this blog!

I can tell SOMEONE out there reads this. Know how?

There was CREAMER in the breakroom today. That's how.

AWESOME. I feel like I've been welcomed back to civilization.

Anyway, work-related stuff: sale on Skullcandy ends today, printers are still $30, Shoreline Act2 cases will be 20% off starting Wednesday, the 16th. Those things are nice because they're made out of 100% post-consumer plastic waste. Good stuff.

Spent yesterday afternoon shopping with other people's money. :) Actually, I was buying for the store, but I'm a girl and it's kinda fun sometimes. Anyway, bought a bunch of new BuiltNY sleeves - neoprene laptop covers, new colors and paterns. Also Skullcandy is now making their Skullcrushers in black, so those are on the way, too. Look for them next week.

For the uninitiated: Skullcrushers are over-the-ear headphones with a POWERED SUBWOOFER. Seriously. We've got a pair we busted open to demo to people; they're at the counter, so just ask one of the kids to let you try them. My husband's comment was, I thought, the best description - "It's like getting your brain massaged from the inside." Really. You need to check these out.

And I just found out UH Hilo's Bookstore has one lonely MB062LL/A MacBook in-stock. We gotta mark that down and move it out. It'll be low. Trust me. Like, $749. Brand new, still in the box, may have to pay to ship it up here, but that's, like, $18. And I think I gotta take a look at what Maui, Windward and Hilo are using as demos; watch our clearance list, because those may come up soon and they'll be lightly used and in great condition. Leave a comment or e-mail me at clakins@hawaii.edu if you need more info.

It pays to read my blog

Hey!

I'm going to drop the price of all remaining clearance MacBooks and MacBook Pros another $100 effective Monday, April 14th. You heard it here first!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. My excuse is that the coffee-supply fairies who take the quarters we leave in the old mayonnaise jar in the employee lounge and magically transform them into sugar and creamer have miserably failed in their duties of late; we have sugar coming out our ears and no freakin' creamer. So I'm on day 2 of black coffee. Say a prayer for me. Don't know how much more I can take.

Must...have...decent....joe! Gasp!

There's no place like home...

Well, I'm back from my whirlwind tour of UCSD, UCI, UCLA, Stanford, Apple HQ and CCRA's annual conference and expo (that's Campus Computer Reseller's Alliance, for you uninitiated).  I brought back waaaay too many souvenirs for my already-spoiled kid, piles of free pens for my staff, and a really nasty head cold.  But not to worry - the DayQuil will kick in any moment and I'll be flyin'!

BTW, that's a pic of Mariann and Nico rehearsing their dance moves.  Thought I was kidding about that in the last post?  Think again.... (spring break was a bit slow around here).

Hey, we also have a Facebook page now, and Mariann and Jeff just stroked my middle-aged ego by adding me as friends and becoming "fans" of the store.  Check it out:

The Computer Department on Facebook!

Hey, head's up - printers going on sale on Wednesday - $30 off Canon MP210s and Epson Stylus R280s.

Who ARE these people?!?

Aloha!  I'm Chris, the manager of the UH Bookstore Computer Department, and shown is 2/3 of my crack staff, including (from left to right):

* Nico Sipin - senior, business major.  Past-times include scavenging parts from dead macs in a continuing attempt to build the ultimate franken-computer.  Habitually gets his bike stolen.  If you have a spare, let him know!

* Mariann Major - senior, psychology major.  Our department color.  Currently pursuing her ambition to form our staff into America's Next Great Dance Troupe.  She's, uh, got a loooooong way to go.

* Jeff Racca - junior, business major.  Currently eagerly awaiting his 21st birthday later this month.  Always on the look-out for a hat that fits.

* Altair Kaneshiro - our service technician (a.k.a. the resident know-it-all).  You think he's got an unusual name?  You should meet his twin brother, Antares.

* Roland Co (not pictured) - assistant manager.  The serious one of the crew.  While at work, anyway.  But we suspect there's more to the story, on First Fridays, at least...

* Chris Akins (not pictured) - manager.  My picture may not be up there, but you'll know me when you see me.  I'm tall.  I have glasses and freckles.  And I'm a natural blonde.  That's my excuse.