jeffjudge.com

now that i have a lot more flexible schedule these days, i’m getting more of the annoying life tasks done during the week so that erin and i can fully enjoy our weekend and not have to run a bunch of errands. for example:

(1) fixing my laptop (good)
my laptop crapped out recently, so i took it over to the apple store on michigan avenue. i like the apple store because there is always a lot of cool gear to dork around with and try out, and they have a walk-up service counter on the second floor to help you diagnose any issues. the service technician (or ‘genius’) quickly diagnosed that my power chord had fried and that i needed another one. problem solved. he was knowledgeable, helpful, and thoroughly explained the issue - which helped me minimize any of my frustration. while waiting, i overheard that seu jorge, a brazilian actor/musician famous for his roles in ‘city of god’ and the ‘life aquatic’ would be playing an instore performance in 10 mins. sweet - my problem was solved and got to see a musician that i really enjoy perform for 30 minutes - a great customer experience.

(2) fixing my car (bad)
my brakes recently started to shake when approaching stop signs and while slowing down after exiting off of the expressway. erin made an appointment to take the jeep into napleton’s, a dealership off of western avenue pretty close to our house. when i got to the dealership, i explained the situation to the service technician and asked him why i would have an issue with the brakes being that the car is only a few years old. he went on to tell me that “it’s a pretty well known fact that jeeps have horrible brakes” and that had i done any amount of research i would have known this. so he talked shit about his product, and then he belittled his customer for not knowing that the car i paid 30k for two years ago has less than stellar reputation for it’s brakes. lesson learned - i’ll never buy another jeep again, and i’ll go out of my way to avoid napleton. i’d sell the car, but prefer to keep my monthly cash outflow to a minimum while starting up the business since the car is paid off.

it’s all about the customer - if you treat them like shit, they’re not going to come back to you. there will always be another product or service to help solve their problem or fulfill their need, so you better treat them like they’re important.

“I’m not a vegetarian because I love animals. I’m a vegetarian because I hate plants.”

–A. Whitney Brown

If you’re a Chicago resident reading this and enjoy coffee, take a few seconds to vote for your favorite coffee shop via Citysearch:
http://chicago.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/coffee

On one hand, you have Metropolis Coffee Company, a great shop in Edgewater (I’m actually writing this post from Metropolis right now). You can’t beat their coffee, nor the energy that Jeff and Tony Dreyfuss have created since opening shop on Granville. Erin and I love the coffee so much that we gave out 1/4 lb bags of it at our wedding.

On the other hand, you have Intelligentsia. Intelligentisa is clearly the more established of the two, having three shops: their flagship on Broadway, their second shop on Van Buren, and their newest shop near Millenium Park. Intelligentsia is well known for it’s Black Cat espresso and dedication to the farmers that grow their beans in Central America.

Tough vote - Itelligentsia edged Metropolis out in 2005.

I also love The Grind (my neighborhood favorite) but I am not counting them as a contender since they don’t roast and serve their own beans.  I don’t know…is that fair?  It just seems like the roasters should take the prize.

interesting interview with jim buckmaster, ceo of craigslist

in an effort to curb spending, i decided to start a ‘want list’. i might as well call this list the “i gotta have this now” list. i’ll use this list to track everything that i want with the goal being that over time i’ll realize how silly and spur of the moment some of the things are that i want and really weed out the the things that i truly need.

i know it’s a bit premature to drop a tip on something that i just started doing today, but i have a hunch that this will be pretty useful (and i’ve read about other people using these). it’s not that i’m some credit happy impulse shopper…i just want to make sure i lock down my spending while i’m starting up the new business.