Where PC means Personal Care® · February 2006 · No. 55
It's What's Up Front That Counts
In the last newsletter we introduced the wizards of our service department. This time we want you to meet the people who have the responsibility for that all-important first impression. When you walk into the store, chances are that one of these three people will be your first contact:
Cicely Wylde came to us when I found that Zamboanga (the clothing & accessories store across the street from us) didn't have enough sense to keep her! When Cicely joined us just over two years ago, the only thing she knew about computers was how to turn them on. However, I knew that Cicely's experience in retail and customer service would be invaluable. So far she has done nothing but prove me right! A soccer mom with two beautiful daughters, she is getting increasingly adept at answering technical and Internet questions. She even knows what a motherboard is!
Nils Enevoldsen is one of those synchronistic finds! He was looking for work at the same time we were looking for a young part-time person who knew a little bit about computers. He brought with him a surprising maturity and extreme dedication to learning and performing the job well, which carries over to the way he deals with and helps our customers. Because of Nils' innate ability to learn technical tasks quickly, I have put him in charge of our Internet Service. We've made him full time and rely on him to answer most of our customers' email queries.
Matthew Underbrink is a senior at Garfield High School who has demonstrated his ability to relate to customers of all ages. We have received both written and verbal compliments from our customers about how Matthew helped solve their computer problems. His range of computer interests from gaming to audio and video editing has made him a versatile and valuable addition.
A Fond Farewell
Unfortunately we now have to say good-bye to one of our long-term customer service people, Tom Kassens. This is Tom's second retirement! He came to us after serving Boeing for many years. Many of you will remember Tom as the person who knows the most about digital photography and you may also have seen him dressed as the clown handing out Halloween candy at the Junction Trick or Treat event over the past umpteen years. I am especially going to miss Tom as he was the only person here who was more than half my age.
Although Tom will no longer be physically present in our store, he has agreed to continue providing our customers with valuable support by email. So if you have questions or problems related to digital photography, you may contact Tom at photos@quidnunc.net.
In our next newsletter we will introduce you to our behind-the-scenes staff.
| Want to record your music? Burn a CD? QUIDNUNC has everything you need! |
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TECH TIPS
Although it is easier and faster and apparently quite attractive to purchase software by downloading it from the Internet, be wary of doing so if you have to pay for it first. This may be risky, and there are better alternatives. Many publishers will allow you to download a FREE or TRIAL version of their software that is in fact the full version that only requires an unlock code once you have paid. The difference will become very apparent to you if your file fails to download properly. You may not even know there is a problem until you try to install the downloaded software. If you have paid in advance you will not be able to download it again until you have jumped through whatever hoops the software publisher requires for you to prove that you have paid and have the right to do this. This includes major publishers such as Adobe and Symantec - the publisher of Norton Anti-Virus.
Featured in this newsletter:
· It's What's Up Front That
Counts
· TECH TIPs
· Three Exciting New Products
· It's Tax Time
· Is It Time to Buy a Laser
Printer?
· Quidnunc Web:
A Potential Partnership
Also:
Coupons
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It's Tax Time
If you paid more than $30 to have someone do your Income Tax, why don't you try an experiment? Get this year's edition of Intuit's Turbo Tax or H&R Block's Tax Cut. Apply it to last year's data. See how it does your taxes and just how close it is to your prepared tax return. You may be surprised at how easy the program is to use and how the results mirror (or beat) what your paid preparer did. You may want to do it yourself and save some money.
Please note that unless you also have to file a State Tax Return, don't spend the extra money on the deluxe version - you will get very little value from it.
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Is It Time to Buy a Laser Printer?
If you are distraught by how much money you spend on ink for your printer and you do mostly black printing, maybe it is time to consider a laser printer. For example, you might spend $100 for a laser toner cartridge that prints 5,000 - 10,000 copies instead of $30 for a black ink-jet cartridge that prints 200 - 500 copies. While Hewlett-Packard still has the best brand name recognition, their laser printers are not necessarily the best choice for home users. Samsung makes a very reliable printer at a very affordable price. The ML-1740 prints 17 pages per minute (ppm) and the ML-2250 prints 22 ppm. We use both of these in the store and they have been extremely reliable. All of these printers are well under $200.
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Quidnunc Web: A Potential Partnership
Daniela Lammers of Tansi Graphics, our beloved web guru of the past several years is leaving Seattle. While Daniela is still capable of posting our website for us from anywhere on the planet there is an Internet connection, her departure has set us thinking about a potential partnership between a creative, competent web designer and Quidnunc. We would like to extend our customer service to include web design for our clients as well as our in-house web needs. We were thinking along the lines of a resident, customer-service oriented but independent, web designer that would handle his or her own clients as well as Quidnunc's web work. This is not an Opportunity for Employment announcement but, if anyone out there has some thoughts on this, we are open to discussion. Email us at quidnuncresumes@quidnunc.net or call us and tell us what you propose.
| Custom-built Computers! Games! Productivity! Utilities! Modems! CD-ROM |
When you are installing software from any source, be sure to turn off any anti-virus and firewall programs first. We have had many occurrences of computers not behaving properly, especially Internet problems, where we made things work by merely turning off the anti-virus or firewall program. When this is the case, the solution is to uninstall the program, turn off the anti-virus or firewall and reinstall the program.
| Quidnunc: the friendliest computer, software & Internet store in Seattle |
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Three Exciting New Products at Quidnunc
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1. If you have or are planning to get DSL and want to share it with at least one other computer in your home or office, the new Zoom X6 has a built-in wireless router and four port switch. This means it is the equivalent of two separate pieces of equipment that would cost over $150, and the Zoom X6 is priced at $119.99. |
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2. And for those of you who are making your own DVDs for distribution and you want something more upscale than a printed cover, the Lightscribe DVD Burner will etch an image into the disk's metallic-covered surface. Another advantage of using the Lightscribe as an alternative to applying labels to a disk is that despite being minimal, the weight of a label is actually sufficient to deter the correct functioning of the disk in the player, especially if the label is fractionally off-center. (Source: staff at Victory Studios at Interbay, North Seattle, who specialize in DVD replication.) |
| Custom-built Computers! Games! Productivity! Utilities! Modems! CD-ROM |
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Save Quidnunc postage and trees!
Get this newsletter by email and prevent at least one postal worker (and maybe Bill) from developing a bad back. To subscribe, send us an email — we currently distribute nearly 2,000 of these newsletters electronically.
We will recycle old computers, printers and monitors for a nominal fee of $15/computer or monitor, and $5/printer.
Remember to bring in empty ink jet and laser toner cartridges. Keep them out of the landfills!
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