The coffee shop was crowded with the usual customers of the 7:00 hour, needing their morning fix.

So dependent, he thought, these people think they’re unique because they order two shots instead of three.

There was window paint on the windows, apparently advertising a new roast of coffee they were selling. There was an old man sitting in one of the new leather chairs, sipping his coffee. He must have been 90. And he must also have been rich, judging by the 3 young women he was chatting with. Like an old Rico Suave, he thought. The morning sunlight pierced through the overcast sky and the empty spots between the peaks of the eastern mountains. The coffee shop was set facing the east, so everyone noticed, but they were all used to it.

“Sir, may I help you today?” The barista asked.

“Yeah, I’ll have a Venti Vanilla Latte, but with two shots instead of three,” He replied, flipping over the Bob Dylan record he had found on the promotional music rack. Oh good, it’s got “Tangled Up In Blue,” he thought. “And I’ll take this CD,” He said.

“That’ll be thirteen ninety-four,” she said, as he handed her a single bill. “Out of twenty? Your awesome change’ll be six dollars and six cents,” she said, handing him two bills and a penny.

He tipped his hat and the rest of the change. She ended up short changing herself, he thought, walking to the half –chairs on the other side of the bar.

“Why is that man wearing a hat,” one of Rico’s gals asked, “doesn’t he have any fashion sense?” They all giggled. He heard Rico say, “He’s probably just eccentric.”

Good insight Rico, your age has at least improved one thing about you. Now, onto real matters, he thought, how much morphine did you have injected to come here? Judging by the bulging your joints must be having a hey–day with this weather.

“How’s the arthritis treating you today, sir?” He asked, noting Rico’s gaping mouth.

“Uh… It’s good son. How could you tell?”

Casually shifting the bag his CD was in from his right hand to his left, he said, “Mine’s especially bad today.”

“I see.” Rico said.

“Clyde!” He heard a voice coming from behind him.

He turned around in a haste, to see a woman rush to one of the men sitting on the chaise in the corner.

“How are you, honey?” She said, in a slight British accent.

Southern Britain, he instinctively knew.

“Good,” the man answered, putting down his coffee and rising to embrace her. He too, spoke in the same accent. “And how do you fare?”

How do you fare? Eesh I haven’t heard that in a while, he thought.

I like this, it’s a lot different from a lot of books I’ve read lately.

I know you didn’t ask for it, but I have some suggestions. It’s up to you whether you take them or not, but I know I like constructive insight when I’m writing.

First, you don’t have to specify it’s window paint. Just say paint

Second, if you’re using a number that is less than 100, type out the whole word.

"The morning sunlight pierced through the overcast sky and the empty spots between the peaks of the eastern mountains. The coffee shop was set facing the east, so everyone noticed, but they were all used to it." If they’re all used to it, then maybe it shouldn’t make a difference if they noticed.

Otherwise, I think it’s an awesome start. I want to read more of it, and that’s always important, I think. If you pull people in, you’re doing a good job

http://michaeljackson.shop.bravadousa.com/Product.aspx?cp=21637_21645&pc=BGCTMJ08

2.) Michael Jackson London Silhouette Tote Bag

http://michaeljackson.shop.bravadousa.com/Product.aspx?cp=21637_21724&pc=BGAMMJ07

3.) The Essential Michael Jackson CD

http://michaeljackson.shop.bravadousa.com/Product.aspx?cp=21637_21719&pc=BGCDMJ06

its just about $81.00 WITHOUT tax and shipping.
Should i actually buy all this?

ALSO if anyone has any type of Promotional Code that can help me get a discount plz let me know.

if you live in any area where michael jackson had performed or where he was born then go to that area lots of fans will be selling things! and if your in LA go to venice, or go to the staple center area bc reports say that there will be fans blasting MJ from cars and boomboxes and selling things!!

ex: gary, indiana- his home
apollo theater- NY
LA- HIS HOME!

so really, i think even if he PERFORMED in your city there will be fans gathered there!! and will be selling things at little memorials and tributes to the king of the media, try the mall too darling (:

1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the many calls asking where the "Any" key is.

2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.

3. Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that the system wouldn’t read word processing files from his old diskettes. After trouble-shooting for magnets and heat failed to diagnose the problem, it was found that the customer labeled the diskettes by rolling them into a typewriter to type on them.

4. Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with Xeroxed copies of the floppies.

5. A Dell technician advised his customer to put his troubled floppy back in the drive and close the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and was then heard putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close the door to his room.

6. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn’t get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.

7. Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program, so a Dell tech suggested he go to the local Egghead. "Yeah, I got me a couple of friends," the customer replied. When told "Egghead" was a software store, the man said, "Oh, I thought you meant for me to find a couple of geeks."

8. Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.

9. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid". The tech explained that the computer’s "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn’t be taken personally.

10. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn’t get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring that the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer’s mouse.

11. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand-new computer wouldn’t work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in, and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?"

12. True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp: Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"

Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech: "I’m sorry, but did you say a "cup holder"?" Caller: "Yes, it’s attached to the front of my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped; it’s because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotion, like at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?" Caller: "It came with my computer, I don’t know anything about a promotional. It just has ‘4X’ on it."

At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn’t stand it. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!

Another well-known one that I can add is the true tale of the user who called up complaining that the instructions said to load the four diskettes into "Drive A" but he couldn’t possibly get more than two in.

Oh wow…funny how some people can be so technologically challenged!!! =D =P

Duration : 0:1:50

Technorati Tags: custom bags, cute dog, Jack Russell, promotional bags, terrier

1. Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the many calls asking where the "Any" key is.

2. AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.

3. Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that the system wouldn’t read word processing files from his old diskettes. After trouble-shooting for magnets and heat failed to diagnose the problem, it was found that the customer labeled the diskettes by rolling them into a typewriter to type on them.

4. Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with Xeroxed copies of the floppies.

5. A Dell technician advised his customer to put his troubled floppy back in the drive and close the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and was then heard putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close the door to his room.

6. Another Dell customer called to say he couldn’t get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.

7. Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program, so a Dell tech suggested he go to the local Egghead. "Yeah, I got me a couple of friends," the customer replied. When told "Egghead" was a software store, the man said, "Oh, I thought you meant for me to find a couple of geeks."

8. Yet another Dell customer called to complain that his keyboard no longer worked. He had cleaned it by filling up his tub with soap and water and soaking the keyboard for a day, then removing all the keys and washing them individually.

9. A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid". The tech explained that the computer’s "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn’t be taken personally.

10. An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn’t get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring that the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the computer’s mouse.

11. Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand-new computer wouldn’t work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in, and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?"

12. True story from a Novell NetWire SysOp: Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?"

Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech: "I’m sorry, but did you say a "cup holder"?" Caller: "Yes, it’s attached to the front of my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me if I seem a bit stumped; it’s because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotion, like at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Does it have any trademark on it?" Caller: "It came with my computer, I don’t know anything about a promotional. It just has ‘4X’ on it."

At this point the Tech Rep had to mute the caller, because he couldn’t stand it. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder, and snapped it off the drive!

Another well-known one that I can add is the true tale of the user who called up complaining that the instructions said to load the four diskettes into "Drive A" but he couldn’t possibly get more than two in

ha ha ha funny

AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in. *

Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with photocopies of the floppies. *

Another Dell customer called to say he couldn’t get his computer to fax anything. After 40 minutes of troubleshooting, the technician discovered the man was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key. *

A Dell technician received a call from a customer who was enraged because his computer had told him he was "bad and an invalid." The tech explained that the computer’s "bad command" and "invalid" responses shouldn’t be taken personally. *

A confused caller to IBM was having troubles printing documents. He told the technician that the computer had said it "couldn’t find printer." The user had also tried turning the computer screen to face the printer but that his computer still couldn’t "see" the printer." *

An exasperated caller to Dell Computer Tech Support couldn’t get her new Dell Computer to turn on. After ensuring the computer was plugged in, the technician asked her what happened when she pushed the power button. Her response, "I pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens." The "foot pedal" turned out to be the mouse. *

Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand-new computer wouldn’t work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?" *

Another IBM customer had troubles installing software and rang for support. "I put in the first disk, and that was OK. It said to put in the second disk, and I had some problems with the disk. When it said to put in the third disk, I couldn’t even fit it in…." The user hadn’t realized that "Insert Disk 2" meant to remove Disk 1 first. *

In a similar incident, a customer had followed the instructions for installing software. The instructions said to remove the disk from its cover and insert into the drive. The user had physically removed the casing of the disk and wondered why there were problems. *

True story from a Novell NetWare Sysop: Caller: "Hello, is this Tech Support?" Tech: "Yes, it is. How may I help you?" Caller: "The cup holder on my PC is broken and I am within my warranty period. How do I go about getting that fixed?" Tech: "I’m sorry, but did you say a cup holder?" Caller: "Yes, it’s attached to the front of my computer." Tech: "Please excuse me. If I seem a bit stumped, it’s because I am. Did you receive this as part of a promotional at a trade show? How did you get this cup holder? Caller: It came with my computer. I don’t know anything about a promotion. It just has ‘4X’ on it." At this point, the Tech Rep had to mute the caller because he couldn’t stand it. He was laughing too hard. The caller had been using the load drawer of the CD-ROM drive as a cup holder and snapped it off the drive. *

A woman called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer. The tech asked her if she was running it under Windows." The woman responded, "No, my desk is next to the door. But that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window and his printer is working fine." *

Tech Support: "O.K. Bob, let’s press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager." Customer: "I don’t have a ‘P’." Tech: "On your keyboard, Bob." Customer: "What do you mean?" Tech: "’P’ on your keyboard, Bob." Customer: "I’m not going to do that!"

Got a call from a woman said that her laser printer was having problems, the bottom half of her printed sheets were coming out blurry. It seemed strange that the printer was smearing only the bottom half. I walked her through the basics, then went over and printed out a test sheet. It printed fine. I asked her to print a sheet, so she sent a job to the printer. As the paper started coming out, she yanked it out and showed it to me. I told her to wait until the paper came out on its own. Problem solved.

I had been doing Tech Support for Hewlett-Packard’s DeskJet division for about a month when I had a customer call with a problem I just couldn’t solve. She could not print yellow. All the other colors would print fine, which truly baffled me because the only true colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow. For instance, green is a combination of cyan and yellow, but green printed fine. Every color of the rainbow printed fine except for yellow. I had the customer change ink cartridges. I had the customer delete and reinstall the drivers. Nothing worked. I asked my coworkers for help; they offered no new ideas. After over two hours of troubleshooting, I was about to tell the customer to send the printer in to us for repair when she asked quietly, "Should I try printing on a piece of white paper instead of this yellow paper?"

A man attempting to set up his new printer called the printer’s tech support number, complaining about the error message: "Can’t find the printer." On the phone, the man said he even held the printer up in front of the screen, but the computer still couldn’t find it.

And another user was all confused about why the cursor always moved in the opposite direction from the movement of the mouse. She also complained that the buttons were difficult to depress. She was very embarrassed when we asked her to rotate the mouse so the tail pointed away from her.

For a computer programming class, I sat directly across from someone, and our computers were facing away from each other. A few minutes into the class, she got up to leave the room. I reached between our computers and switched the inputs for the keyboards. She came back and started typing and immediately got a distressed look on her face. She called the tutor over and explained that no matter what she typed, nothing would happen. The tutor tried everything. By this time I was hiding behind my monitor and quaking red-faced. I typed, "Leave me alone!" They both jumped back as this appeared on their screen. "What the…" the tutor said. I typed, "I said leave me alone!" The kid got real upset. "I didn’t do anything to it, I swear!" It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. The conversation between them and HAL 2000 went on for an amazing five minutes. Me: "Don’t touch me!" Her: "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit your keys that hard." Me: "Who do you think you are anyway?!" Etc. Finally, I couldn’t contain myself any longer, and fell out of my chair laughing. After they had realized what I had done, they both turned beet red. Funny, I never got more than a C- in that class.

This guy calls in to complain that he gets an "Access Denied" message every time he logs in. It turned out he was typing his username and password in capital letters. Tech Support: "OK, let’s try once more, but use lower case letters." Customer: "Uh, I only have capital letters on my keyboard."

Email from a friend: "CanYouFixTheSpaceBarOnMyKeyboard?"

My friend was on duty in the main lab on a quiet afternoon. He noticed a young woman sitting in front of one of the workstations with her arms crossed across her chest, staring at the screen. After about 15 minutes he noticed that she was still in the same position, only now she was impatiently tapping her foot. He asked if she needed help and she replied, "It’s about time! I pressed the F1 button over twenty minutes ago!"

LOL

Thanks for posting

http://www.ae.com/web/browse/category_feature_item.jsp?catId=cat1060005

I am looking for something like this that would not be too difficult to make.

A handbag for men??? what is the world coming too !!!!

real men wear wranglers and t shirts and spit and feel there candy sack through a little hole in their jeans

not

wear slacks and moisturise and especially not use a bag!!

you a big fairy or what??

By now you all know the power of business cards as a marketing tool. But you will be surprised to find out that not many people get to utilize all the real estate a business card has to offer and maximize its potential.

Although the primary role of a business card is to provide contact information, it can become a promotional vehicle if the second side of it gets utilized. The second side remains usually blank; instead, it should be used to announce discounts, promotions, and a list of the company’s products or services.

Most of the time a company name or logo does not say much about the product or the service. At the same time the business card will be the only piece a lot of your prospects will file in their rolodex, and you will have to make sure your message is as descriptive as possible so that your prospects associate your card with you and your service in the future.

Do not distract them from your personal information by overloading one of the card sides. Instead, use side one to include the contact information as well as one line text outlining who you are and what you do. You might also consider prompting the card holder to turn it over by including a small command such as: Please turn Over, See Over for Special Offers, Turn Over For Important Information , etc.

The more informative the card and the more valuable the information is to your prospects, the higher the chances are they will keep it. Try to be concise, straight to the point and use graphics and illustrations that can summarize your points. Above all, have the target audience in mind when deciding on the content of the second side of your card, and consider the information you are providing them.

Here are some ideas of content for the second side of your card:

Promotions : Announce upcoming sales or specials. Drop them around town, staple them on receipts and include them inside shopping bags. Be generous. Your customers will share them with friends and will spread the word of mouth for you.

Pocket size billboards : Your message can be easily passed to by passers or visitors in a trade show. The more creative and informative, the more the chances it will end up in your prospects pocket for reference instead of be thrown away.

Referral cards : Create special referral cards and leave space so that your customers could write their information before passing the cards on. It is ideal if you are running a multilevel marketing team, an affiliate program, or have an incentive rewards program for referrals.

Appointment cards: Doctors, hair salons, mechanics, all use appointment cards to assure that their clients will be back. Find innovative ways to hand everyone an appointment card if your company service/product permits.

Coupons: Issue your own coupons and see sales skyrocket. It is a great way of tracking response of your promotional efforts if customers return a coupon in return for a discount. Create unique coupons for each campaign and do not forget to include �coupon code� if your company has the ability to sell online or over the phone.

Sophie Charalambous
http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/double-the-sides-double-the-sales-116097.html

Festive season around the corner and you are confused as to what can be the best gift that would help boost your image with your clients. Relax; Promotional-Logo-Pens.com is here to help!

Promotional item pens are pens that are mightier than all other marketing tools. They can be the best gift that you can give your clients and customers giving your organization a profitable return as well. Customized promotional pens from Promotional Logo Pens are:

* A great gift idea
* Create brand awareness for your products, services, or organization
* Economical
* An easy way to increase visibility tremendously
* Helping your brand name be remembered

A pen is a universal tool. There are very few people who leave home without a pen in their bags or pockets. Even in the age of computers, people have to use a pen for writing work in their everyday activities.

In the competitive business world, pens have also been a great gift idea. Whether it is gifted to a large mass of people or a few selected ones, different kinds of pens have been the perfect gift for different occasions.

At Promotional Logo Pens, you will find pens for different occasions. For instance, we have a wide range of promotional classic engraved pens available. These elegant looking, stylish imprinted pens are germane for corporate gifts. To add a little fun to these pens, we have a collection of 3D mirror pens.

Though these promotional item pens look expensive, they are charged at a very reasonable rate. They would fit your marketing budget comfortably and create the impact you want on your target audience.

The promotional item pens are ideal promotional tools for smaller organizations as they do not have substantial advertising and promotion budgets. Thus, they find the logo pens an ideal way to not only create brand awareness, but also to motivate staff or thank customers at a reasonable cost.

Customized promotional pens are like miniature billboards in motion. They create big awareness on a small promotional item.

Promotional item pens are a superb way to cut through the clutter and get your message across to a huge percentage of your target audience. Just get your logo imprinted on a classy looking pen and watch your client take it everywhere!

Chris Shetler
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/get-promotional-ink-and-gel-pens-74883.html