Dear Friends,
Is it still called Indian summer if we set record highs in the middle of November? The temperatures on Wednesday were in the 70s, and lucky for me, I had scheduled an appointment with the US Customs and Border Patrol way up in Champlain, NY to enroll in the Trusted Traveller program. This necessitated a motorcycle ride up US Route 2 through the Islands and across Lake Champlain for a 10-minute meeting and fingerprinting session. Now I can go in the fast lane when I re-enter the USA. The ride was spectacular and rare this time of year. Already the temperatures have changed and snow is in the forecast.
I recorded radio and TV voice -overs this week for our new advertising campaign for our anniversary celebrations and Black Friday sales. Our South Burlington store turns five years old and our Manchester, NH store is one year old, and we are celebrating with five days of savings next week. Black Friday also promises to be a big day for our retail stores. Manchester gets the prize for opening earliest and will open the doors at 4 a.m., South Burlington opens at 5 a.m. and, due to town restrictions, Waitsfield opens at 10 a.m. All three stores will stay open late to make sure all customers can take advantage of these specials.
With Vermont still struggling to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Irene, our hearts go out to the people of Thailand who are still under water from some of the worst flooding ever seen in that area of the world. This flooding in Thailand has had a severe impact upon the supply of hard drives; much of the world’s hard drive production is in Thailand, including some critical components in all hard drives like the motor that spins the discs. We have seen a rapid increase every day in hard drive prices and a very scarce supply as a result. Prices are rising quickly, so if you are considering a backup solution, do not hesitate as recovery is not projected for at least a few months.