Dear Friends,

The gray aliens let me go after I convinced them that the designated hitter rule is a travesty. Actually, I was away getting a medical issue taken care of and spent most of this week recovering from the surgery. Here in Vermont, we are fortunate to have an excellent medical community. All the medical providers at Fletcher Allen Hospital were great, and while I can’t say I enjoyed the experience, my problem seems to be solved and I am itching to get back to work next week!

One of the things that my experience has reinforced is that it is important to be in touch with your own mortality—to realize that life is truly short. Taking advantage of every moment and carefully considering the decisions you make each day helps to focus your life. It is my motivation for the social mission of Small Dog Electronics. How we measure our success is an important part of the DNA of our company. We feel that if we create a human-oriented workplace, with happy and healthy workers, we are a success as a business. If we treat our customers the way we would want to be treated and treat our vendors that same way, we are a success as a business. When we understand the impact our business makes upon the environment and take steps not only to lessen that impact but to improve our environment, we are a success as a business. If we can make some money while doing this, we are a success as a business. It is this triple bottom line—people, planet, profit—that defines Small Dog Electronics and drives our business.

With the holidays coming, we are launching our special Pre-Holiday Sales Event starting today through Sunday online and in our retail stores, and we’re offering some of our best deals of the year! We have over 200 total specials going on right now; be sure to check out our featured values in this issue of Kibbles & Bytes.