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!