Thursday, May 29, 2008

Making your customer laugh

I loved this email I just got from CDBaby.

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, May 28th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year." We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sigh...
--
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little store with the best new independent music
http://cdbaby.com cdbaby@cdbaby.com (503)595-3000


It put a smile on my face 1st thing this morning.
It came "FROM:CD Baby loves Sylvie (orders@cdbaby.com)
I wish I could write the "hold available notices" that way.

BTW,
check CDBaby out for genius stuff such as :


The Nouveaux Honkies








Swamp Chicken















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Friday, May 23, 2008

my i-friends

Today, Meredith Farkas blogged about online disclosure and "friendships". It's nice how she articulates a lot of the feelings I have had, both anxiety and joy, about my online presence and about all the contacts I have made in the past couple of years. In most cases, I am mostly an admirer, and I have been lucky enough to be able to converse, online or otherwise with a few of them. So it still feels to me like a "rock star-groupie" kind of thing. But I have grown fond of many for what they share, what they encourage me to share and for their willingness to help EVERYONE make some headway in their efforts to make their little/big library more open, more transparent and more responsive. These people are real to me, they set an example for me everyday and often I use their eyes to see further. Often I use their words to initiate change.

I did the same thing in flesh and blood 10 years ago when I got involved with the Unicorn User Group International and met system administrators and librarians I found so bright and inventive. I became a fan, then a friend. I would have not become the library geek I am without Selden, Mack, Karen, Jack and countless others. They gave me the confidence to develop my skills, and to become someone others can got to for help and who is involved enough to bring about change in that community. ...The same thing.

On that path, then and now, I got to fall in love with their dogs, meet their parents, eat their food, go to my hometown with them, pray for their babies...
I got to plan a revolution, joke around with them and, oh yeah, sometimes, really cool stuff happened to me too.
-heard from photographer (and Nelson ;) at 7:30 am, posted on flickr at 7:33 am, got it back in Bloglines from TTW at 7:38 am.

This is hot, it made my day.




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Friday, May 16, 2008

web2 Oh!

if you have ever asked "where do they find the time?"
If you think the LOLCATS are stupid...
If you play WOW in secret.

spend 15 minutes listening to this guy, all the way thru, it's worth it.
PS: if you know and love a 4 year old today, there is a big payoff.





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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Michelle's prayer

In case some of you still think that social networking is not about "real life"...

Thru social networking, (probably where library people and dog lovers intersect) I was lucky to "meet" a young woman with a fresh voice who was doing her best to turn ALA on it's head (or at least remind it it had one) and to really show that the virtual world is a gift, a great tool, and the best way to allow the next generation to participate in the classic institutions (and possibly change them.)

I have read Michelle Boule's great thoughts and innovative ideas on "A Wandering Eyre" for a while now. That is where I feel like I got to know her. When she left work on pregnancy leave, I followed her to "Defying Genetics" where she shared her journey in making a family.

Michelle gave birth to a beautiful boy on May 3, which happens to be the birthday of my oldest nephew Charles. Like Charlie when he was born, Michelle's son Gideon has been in the NICU fighting the good fight. I remember so well how we felt then, and from Florida to Texas, without having ever met, I have been praying with Michelle's family much in the same way now. "My" Charlie's is 11 years old now, Gideon will be 11 days tomorrow.

This IS real life, and real human beings are now able to share it thru the virtual means we have grown to see as our ways to feel connected as humans.
What I feel most like sharing now is Michelle's prayer:
"Lord, please help Gideon’s lungs to be just a little bit better today. Please help him to have no complications today and no infections. Please watch over his doctors and nurses. Thank you for blessing of this place. Thank you for this day and the perfect, precious child you have entrusted to me. Amen"



Hoping she knows I pray it too.

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