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Meet the Chill Pill — a pocket-sized, self-contained capsule that transforms into two powered speakers. It’s the perfect speaker for listening to music while traveling, camping, or kicking it on the back porch.
And now when you purchase one set, we’ll throw in another for FREE! Give a set as a gift or keep both for yourself — they will be enjoyed nonetheless!
_Dear Friends,_
Well, I was hoping to go to the local snack bar for lunch before our radio show yesterday, but it looks like we are in for some rain. The apple tree outside my window here at the office is in full bloom. My house is a bit higher in elevation, so my trees are budding, but not yet in bloom. I did get to do some work in my garden this past week, rototilling and planting peas, carrots, beets, spinach and lettuce. If the rain is not too persistent, I should be able to get a lot more planted this weekend.
Every now and then we get customers who ask about the “small dogs with every order,” so I thought I would share the story about how that came about. When I first started the company almost 20 years ago, I wanted to differentiate the company so I started including some “prizes in each box.” I went to one of my favorite companies, “*Archie McPhee,*”:http://www.mcphee.com in Seattle and bought various items including small plastic dogs, rubber brains, slime dogs and other items. As I shipped out gear, I would put something in each box. Bigger orders got rubber brains, but every order got little dogs.
I had to drop the rubber brains when a customer called to tell me that the rubber brain had melted all over her expensive Apple display but the dogs survived. Eventually, as we grew, my need for more dogs outstripped my supply, so in one of my first ventures into international commerce, I located a Chinese supplier for dogs and bought them in bulk. My daughter and Artie’s daughter ??(the season-sisters Autumn & Winter)?? would come by the office after school to bag dogs. We would put a couple dogs in baggy with a business card and ship it off with each order.
As our online commerce grew, we wanted to give customers lots of reasons to buy from us, and in addition to not charging credit cards before items were shipped, etc, we added “free small dogs with every order.”
Our need for dogs grew, and the daughters were getting overwhelmed by our bagging needs, so the next time I ordered, we not only had the manufacturer include business cards with our dogs’ names on them (people still call asking for the dogs on the cards), but we also had them make a mold to produce dogs that matched our pets. A couple of years ago, we also hosted a contest where two winners would have their dogs immortalized in Small Doggy molds; it was a lot of fun to pick winners from loyal customers!
I have a goal to one day buy 1 million dogs, but have only gotten 25% of the way there so far.
Do you have a collection of our small dogs? Send me a picture of your collection and my team of expert judges and jesters will pick the best three and you will receive a special gift from Small Dog and we will post the pictures, too. Just send them to me: “*don@smalldog.com.*”:mailto:don@smalldog.com
My special this week comes with double dogs, assuming Artie remembers to toss them in. I have noticed Emily wearing wrist braces lately and that reminds me of my struggles early on in Small Dog’s history with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It was so bad that I ended up having surgery on both wrists. I have used an ergonomic keyboard every since and have written extensive reviews of a number of keyboards.
My hands-down (pun intended) favorite and my keyboard for the past 15 years is the “*Kinesis The Advantage Keyboard.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/75590/ This is a keyboard that has a couple of advantages beyond being the best ergonomic keyboard. One, the keys are all programmable, but more importantly, the keyboard has a learning curve so that no one ever touches my keyboard.
To be honest, for the first week of using the keyboard, my typing speed suffered, but by week two, I had recovered my normal speed and shortly thereafter I know my speed improved. I give this keyboard my two thumbs up! While it is more expensive than the run-of-the-mill keyboards, your wrists will thank you.
This week, you’ll get *$20 off of the Kinesis The Advantage Keyboard at $249.99.* Give us a bit of extra time to fill your order, though, because these are purchased to order rather than stocked.
“*Grab the Kinesis keyboard special here!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001449/
Hitting the road this summer with the family and all of your “i” devices? We are, and that includes some time at our cottage in New Hampshire where there is (thankfully) no internet and no cable.
While we do use this time to largely “unplug,” we also like to watch a few movies, and we always want to make sure that we have a backup of any of the pictures and videos we’ve taken while on vacation. Until recently, using the cloud (which obviously requires internet access) or, in our case, bringing along a laptop were the only ways to accomplish this.
However, that’s changed with the introduction of more options for portable wireless storage — including the **LaCie Fuel,** which recently arrived at Small Dog.
The Fuel is available with either **1 or 2TB** storage capacity and allows you to share files with up to five devices at once. The LaCie Fuel creates its own Wi–Fi network, just like your home router, so the drive itself becomes a hotspot. There’s also a free Seagate Media* mobile app (that, if you’re going to be in an area without cell service, you will want to download from the iTunes Store beforehand) that makes it easy to browse and transfer files to and from your device.
You are also able to stream directly from it to Apple TV and AirPlay devices. And while the Fuel does not need the internet to work, it can connect to Wi-Fi hotspots allowing internet access for up to four of your devices. At less than a pound and with up to 10 hours of battery life, it won’t be tough to find room to pack this into the back of the Family Truckster this summer.
Take a look at them here — it’s on our must-have list!
“*1TB LaCie Fuel*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/85520/lacie-fuel-wireless-battery-powered-mobile-hd-1tb — $179.99
“*2TB LaCie Fuel*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/85521/lacie-fuel-wireless-battery-powered-mobile-hd-2tb — $249.99
__*Note that Seagate and LaCie have joined forces and the app hasn’t been renamed just yet. We include the link to get the app right on our website to make it easy for you to download!__
Normally, Memorial Day means a motorcycle ride to Maine for lobster and the sales in Freeport, but with Grace still in Florida and rain in the forecast, I will be sticking closer to home this year. I enjoy riding to small towns and waiting for the parades to pass, so I will probably venture out to see how many parades I can catch around here.
bq. __”My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”__ -John F. Kennedy
Memorial Day is more than a sales and a three day weekend — Memorial Day began after the Civil War, and at that time was known as “Decoration Day.” While it was originally founded to honor the soldiers who died in the Civil War, today, Memorial Day is a day to honor all of the Americans who have died in military service.
Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali & Stephanie_
A Lightning cable to end all Lightning cables! The Hammerhead flat cable is an Apple MFI Certified Cable designed with aluminum ends for durability and a flat design for zero tangles. Sync or charge any of your lightning devices.
Currently, when you purchase two of them, we’ll throw in a *FREE* Hammerhead Dual Port USB Charger!
**From May 19th to June 30th,** we’re celebrating with savings on everything from Macs and iPads to the accessories that make the package complete. Not sure exactly what your high school grad needs for school in the fall? No problem! Our retail staff can help you find the computer that’s the right fit if you’re near one of our stores — everything from software to often-forgotten necessities like backup drives.
This year we are offering **$100 off any Mac purchase with AppleCare,** and a free Hammerhead sleeve. We have **Canon printers** ??(MX522 and MG5420 models)?? **for $50** when purchased with the computer bundle (in total, **save up to $180 on a Mac bundle**). We are also offering **$30 off all iPads** — and you’ll save even more if you buy a case (up to **$75 off**). Plus, we’re offering 0% financing for qualified buyers with no minimum purchase!
Be sure to check out our “*Dads & Grads*”:http://www.smalldog.com/dadsandgrads/ page for more great deals!
*Memorial Day Weekend Sidewalk Sale*
This weekend, we’re taking our Garage Sale offline and outdoors (hopefully — the weather just needs to cooperate)! We have some great items that we didn’t want to wait to sell in our “*famous Garage Sale*”:http://www.smalldog.com/garagesale so we figured we’d do an in-person Memorial Day weekend sale event!
We’ll have iPad cases, iPhone cases, cables and other accessories (quantities limited of all), so you’ll have to come out to see what we’ve got — most items are just $5 and up! Our S. Burlington store will be open regular hours Saturday and Sunday, and from 9am – 5pm Memorial Day.
*Customer Appreciation Event — June 12*
Mark your calendars **Thursday, June 12th from 5:30-7:30** — it’s Customer Appreciation Night at our South Burlington retail location! With **Dads and Grads** promos, refreshments, giveaways, demos, and special **one night only** deals, you won’t want to miss out!
We’ll be raffling prizes throughout the evening, and of course, we will have plenty of staff on-hand to help you with your shopping list. We’re looking forward to seeing all of you on this special evening, because without you, our loyal customers, we would not be your local one-stop shop for everything Apple.
If you haven’t already, become a fan on Facebook so that you can get up-to-the-minute store news there, and if you’re a local customer, be sure to sign up to receive our “*Best in Showroom newsletter (sent monthly).*”:http://www.smalldog.com/newsletters
* “**Small Dog HQ Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/hellosmalldog
* “**S. Burlington Store Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/smalldogsbtv
* “**Rutland Store Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/smalldogrld
* “**Key West Store Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/smalldogkw