It is with great excitement and a little teeny tear in my eye that we officially say good-bye to Process.  I am pushing the button on transferring the domain; and with the click of a mouse, it will fade into infamy...or at least will live on in the tax records of State of Michigan as a fine, upstanding LLC.

Goodbye Process...thanks for the memories.
And a bigger thank you to all the great clients that made it so much fun.

"Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world" - Arthur Schopenhauer

My neurons are ready for take off.

You may have heard the phrase that "wisdom is the result of experience and experience is the result of mistakes" (something to that affect). And although it is perhaps clichéd biz speak seen on a poster with a mountain on it...it does make sense. I would bet this person rarely steps in cement anymore...and is probably more aware overall as to where they step and what they might me stepping in. One would hope at least.

This is my first post from typepad mobile via iPhone. Blog posts, gps, mobile apps from all kinds of developers...this is getting good. Next stop; Omnifocus iPhone app.

Brilliant.

With gas prices exploding, you would think carpooling sites would as well...I can't seem to find much out there however.  Please post any suggestions, in the meantime, I registered with this one; but no matches so far.

Again and again I'm amazed at how big corporations still don't understand that customer experience is everything.  The rules and regulations they put up to protect their profits will eventually be their undoing; and after they go out of business, that .5% increase in revenue due to crappy policies probably won't be that comforting.

My case:
I went to my neighborhood Blockbuster to rent some movies - saw a lot of great previously viewed movies, and walked up to the counter to purchase $60 worth of movies, plus rent another. (Irony as you'll see soon, is that this one of my biggest single Blockbuster purchases).  The clerk then informs me that I was one day past their grace period with their "no late fees" policy, and had to charge $15 for each movie.  I asked if they would consider waiving the fee this one time as I wasn't aware of the 'forced to purchase' program. 

How many times has "Sorry Sir, there's nothing I can do" been muttered in service counters around the world - must be staggering.

I then ask for them to pro-rate my 'rewards' membership as I would then like to cancel my account entirely...what do you think their response was??  (see above).

Why am I thanking Blockbuster?  They've forced me to make a shift on how I consume media, and I couldn't be more excited about it.  I've been toying with purchasing AppleTV, with HD movies on demand, but wasn't quite motivated to pay the upfront costs.  Now I'm ready.

The almost intolerable frustration and "can't do anything" attitude brought me to a  tipping point:  The money I will pay for any equipment, service, etc. far outweighs being pissed off on a beautiful summer evening.  I don't want to deal with Blockbuster's antiquated corporate policy, and I'm willing to pay for a better solution.

So, thank you Blockbuster; for allowing me to justify the purchase of a fun toy...and for reinforcing a valuable lesson: Never put anything in your corporate policy that stands in the way of your customer loving you.

By the way, had these clerks called someone and got presidential veto power on the 'late fee'...they would have had a customer for life, and one who would have probably continually upgraded his services, etc.

They got my $30, and now someone else has the next 50 years of my media consumption dollars.
I wonder if that ROI is part of their going out of business plan??  At least they're consistent.