Cruzio Newsletter - Number 80, November 8, 2004
1. Cruzio's Small Business Fair Starts This Week
2. Donation Time Again
3. Staff Web Picks on Home Page
4. Election Results
5. Buddy Bucks
6. Late Fees/Cans
7. About This Newsletter
8. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Cruzio's Small Business Fair Starts This Week
This Weds, Nov 10, we'll hold workshops on:
- Business Survival Skills for Artists & Small Businesses
- Marketing Your Art and Products
Next Weds, Nov 17, we'll hold workshops on:
- Web Basics & Ecommerce
- Emerging Art & Technology
Most trade shows and events favor big businesses, both as
participants and as attendees. Nobody at Comdex or Macworld fawns
over a small business owner.
But Cruzio is a small business. And about a third of our customers
are small-to-medium size businesses. So we decided years ago that
corporate hypefest trade shows were not enough. We started
the Cruzio Small Business Fair.
Every year we invite bona fide local, successful small businesses
to come in and share their know-how with other local folks who run
a small business or are thinking of starting one.
This year the Fair's spotlight is on Art and Technology. We'll
feature creative people from around the county who have managed to
turn their passion into a viable business. We'll present plenty
of general-interest material as well, to help any business get
off the ground, and we'll introduce you to helpful institutions
such as the Small Business Development Center which offers services
free of charge.
Here are the details, and you are welcome to attend. Please
pre-register if possible, as seats tend to go quickly and we often
sell out:
WHEN: November 10th, 2004 & November 17th, 2004
TIME: 4:30-8pm
COST: $35 per evening with advanced registration,
$40 at the door, or $60 for the series.
WHERE: Cruzio, 903 Pacific Ave. Suite 101, Downtown Santa Cruz, 95060
INFO: For more information or to register go to
http://www.smallbusinessfair.com
2. Donation Time Again
Once again, Cruzio will match customer and staff end-of-year
donations to the Second Harvest Food Bank up to a combined total
of $2,000.
We encourage you to make a generous donation to feed the hungry
and hope that you will encourage us in return. To participate,
make out your check to Second Harvest Food Bank. Send the check
to Cruzio, 903 Pacific Ave, Suite 101, Santa Cruz, 95060.
We'll forward your check to the Food Bank, plus we'll double it
by donating a matching amount. We'll match donations until
Dec 23rd, 2004.
3. Staff Picks on the Home Page
We've added a new feature to Cruzio's home page
http://www.cruzio.com
-- Cruzio Staff Web picks! First up is our Sales Manager,
James, who's made a list of some favorite Web sites. We'll
switch to another Cruzio staffer in a few months. So if
you're having to find replacements for your baseball- and
election-related sites until they are relevant again,
here are some new and interesting choices. This new list
is in the lower left-hand part of the home page.
4. Election Results
Whether you were pleased with the results or not, surely
you were impressed with the Internet's ability to deliver
election returns.
In 2000, it was a different story. Many of us at home waited
impatiently as election Web sites sputtered and froze. Data
took forever to refresh.
This time we were able to choose from a plethora of smoothly working
sites whose function was fast and nearly flawless. What a change!
Heaven for a political junkie who could switch from site to site
monitoring the minor differences from bbc.com to electoral-vote.com
and everything in between.
And remember, most of this technology -- Java, DSL, Linux --
did not come from big corporations. The advancements in
technology we're enjoying now were pioneered by small
entrepreneurs, university laboratories, and government programs.
So despite the move toward corporate consolidation of the
Internet, we're still enjoying the fruits of non-corporate
contributors.
5. Buddy Bucks
Recommend us to friends, family, colleagues: if a new customer
gives us your email address, registration number, or full name when
they sign up you'll get $10 credit to your account. If two friends
sign up, $20. Three friends, $30. It just goes on and on.
Since Cruzio dialup is available nationwide, you can even reap rewards
from recommending us to distant friends and relations. So if your
sister Mary from Maryland needs a reliable connection, or your cousin
James from Jamestown would like the friendly feeling of Cruzio, send
them to us and we'll award you a $10 credit for each one.
6. Late Fees/Cans
Another way to contribute to the needy: if you're late on a payment
to Cruzio, turn it into a donation to hungry folks in our community.
We will waive your late fee if you bring 3 cans into our office for
our Second Harvest Food Bank barrel. Learn more about this charity at
http://www.thefoodbank.org
7. About This Newsletter
Cruzio doesn't like to waste bandwidth with extra email, but we sometimes
have events and announcements that users need to know about. This seems
like the most efficient way to let people know what's happening. Hope
it's helpful. Please email support@cruzio.com with any comments or questions.
By the way, we would love to have a regular, predictable schedule
for this newsletter...but we simply do not send it unless there is real
news enclosed. Thus the haphazard datelines.
8. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
To reach the Cruzio Information Center, for online technical and
sales information:
http://www.cruzio.com/support
To dial in to Cruzio, set your software to dial one of the numbers
below (note: we've expanded and joined modem pools, so you may be
using another number. If so, don't worry, it still works just fine).
Dialup: 459-9408
Nationwide Dialup: Look up local number on our Web page:
http://www.flexpop.net/hub.php3?c=Locations&p=Numsearch
or call Cruzio toll free, 1.800.303.3302
To call Cruzio:
459-6301............Use this number to check Cruzio's system status,
pay your Cruzio bill, find out more about our hours and location,
or to reach someone in customer service and technical support.
To send email to Cruzio, use one of these addresses:
support@cruzio.com ......for technical support
office@cruzio.com .......for billing and ordering information
Cruzio's location:
903 Pacific Avenue, Suite 101, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Cruzio's hours:
Sales hours: 10am-6pm, Monday through Friday; 10 am - 2 pm Saturday
Technical support: 10-6 pm, Monday through Friday, 10am - 2pm Saturday
System monitoring, including customer-alerted emergencies, 24 hours
per day, 365 days per year (leap years, 366 days)
Thanks very much from Cruzio:
Chris, Peggy, Julianne, Kathy, Mark, Tapati, Alec, Stephen,
Paul, Gershom, Jessi, Michael, another Chris, Maria, James,
Juana, Krissie, Nikkie, Mike, Don, Bruce, Edgar, Brian,
Jhonee', Derrick and Westi; Eric and Tiffany (our fabulous
interns); Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
Annika: "Mom, when are you going to braid my hair?"
Mom glances up from her newspaper: "Soon."
A minute passes.
Jake: "Mom, can I invite my friend Joaquin over to our house?"
Mom turns a page of the paper: "Soon."
A few more minutes pass.
Carly: "Mom, can you teach my kitten to play piano?"
Mom does not even look up: "Soon."
Annika, frustrated: "Don't you know, Mommy, that 'soon' means 'never'?"
Jake: "No, Annika, 'soon' means 'leave me alone.'"
