magic card divestment, kudos to card kingdom

While building the arcade game Magic: the Gathering -- Armageddon I, along with most of the team, spent a lot of time playing the card game Magic: the Gathering.  A lot of time.  For those not familiar with Magic, Richard Garfield created the modern interpretation of collectible card game when he created Magic in 1993.  It is a wonderful game and one that I still enjoy playing when I get the chance (which unfortunately isn't often).

A downside of Magic is that you accumulate a ton of cards.  A few weeks ago we were cleaning the garage and I decided it was finally time for the collection to go.  Having neither the time nor patience to eBay the valuable ones as singles, I sent the most valuable 200 or so to Card Kingdom in Seattle.  Huge shout out to Card Kingdom for having a really well designed site, clear instructions, easy submission process, and rapid turnaround.  Certainly I could have made more money off of eBay, but the time savings was dramatic.

can haz blog post, pleez?

Amazing how having a job can interfere with one's blogging. Cliff Note's update:

• EMI digital engineering is now happily ensconced in our temporary SF office and hiring is going nicely. (Note to purveyors of temporary office space, if you want my business, clearly explain your pricing, allow me to close quickly, and after I take the time to come visit don't suddenly explain that you only do two month or longer leases.)
  
• I have a bit of an addiction to NikeID.  Shocking, I know, that I would love user-generated clothing, but there's something amazing about completely custom shoes for a $10 premium.  Recently got a pair that was sized incorrectly and was pleased to find that Nike has a great return policy -- any reason for 30 days and free return shipping label.  Amazing the influence that Amazon, Zappos, and others have had on online shopping.
  
• Made Alton Brown's deep-fried mac and cheese.  All food can now be clearly divided into two classes: perfection (ie, deep-fried mac and cheese) and not-perfection (ie, everything else).  I modified the recipe slightly -- buttermilk rather than eggs for binding the panko  -- and if you cook you should try this!
  

Less eclectic posts coming, I hope.

shout out for great customer service

My wife just bought a new car from Sonnen in San Rafael, CA. We did our research online and coordinated the test drive via their internet sales manager, Jay Vaswani (his email is jvaswani at sonnenvwaudi dot dealercrm dot com). From arrival at the dealership for the test drive to driving off the lot was under 3 hours. Not only that, but Jay drove to our house - 45 minutes away -- to pickup a check from us, since we somehow ended up a an auto dealership without a checkbook! Jay also was quick to answer email enquiries over the weekend. It is striking how great customer service really stands out from the average. Thanks, Jay!

learning from the mouse

Walking through Orlando Airport, it was fun watching how the main Orlando help desk and Disney personnel guide arriving visitors. As tired family after tired family stumbles into the baggage claim area, both the help desk and Disney employees with clipboards firmly but nicely engage with a "Can I help you?" followed by a very concise set of instructions and directions to the next stage in the arrival process. Clearly, if they waited for new arrivals to ask for help -- or spent excessive time with most guests -- there would be a massive backup at the help desk. By reaching out and providing guidance to nearly everyone, they catch most people who need help before the guests even know what to ask for and maintain a really high throughput. High volume and high touch customer support at the same time. I bet there are other businesses that could benefit from their approach.

more customer service goodness

I almost never check bags and tend to travel with the smallest, 20" roller bag possible to ensure that it always fits into the overhead storage on flights. As a result, my trusty Victorinox bag would sometimes get stuffed to nearly cold fusion levels. Eventually, the bag paid the price of my jumping up and down on it to cram things in. It lost several structural screws and one of the internal loops ripped out. I bought a newer version of the bag, but on a lark decided to take the old one in to Edwards Luggage to see how much a repair would cost. The gentleman at the counter counted up all the missing pieces and bits of damage, handed me a claim slip, and announced that all the fixes were easy so there would be no charge.

Free.

Wow. I can say with certainty whenever I need new luggage or wallets that I'll be returning to Edwards.