I’ve been a customer of DirecTV for just over 14 years.
Yesterday, I called DirecTV and cancelled my account. To their credit, they didn’t hassle me very much, and only read off a script a few times to remind me that DirecTV is better than anyone else.
Let’s perform a little back of the napkin math: $100/month for 14 years comes out to just under $17,000. I’ve also recommended DirecTV to a number of friends and family bringing that total much higher.
In the late 90s I had the opportunity to take a factory tour of the Porsche plant in Stuttgart Germany. I watched as engineers assembled engines by hand. The only automation I noticed was how parts were delivered to each work station by robotic carts. Our tour guide pointed out that each Porsche was built-to-order and that a number of models had long waiting lists.
But it was an area near the end of the tour, just off the main assembly line that stood out to me that day. In this area were maybe a dozen or so women stitching together what looked to be large swaths of leather or canvas. Looking around the plant of such a high performance car company, this particular area felt antiquated. Another man in our tour group asked the tour guide why those women were not using commercial stitching machines.
I sat on a chair made for a Kindergartner in the back of a dark auditorium waiting for my daughter to perform at her school Christmas program.
You can almost feel the nervous energy coming from the children and especially the parents like me who are not sure if their child remembered to bring their sheet music, instrument and every part of their costume including the reindeer antlers.
As part of my job at Puget Systems, I speak with many of our customers at various stages of ownership that range from about a week to a couple of years. These customers often share feedback that we use to improve our products and services.
Occasionally customers share what they wish they had done differently when they were configuring their computers. I share this information with our sales team, and figured it might be helpful to those of you considering a new computer today.
So in the vein of “If I could do it all over again…” here are a number of items our customers would change if they could turn back time:
A few months ago my car wouldn’t start. I narrowed the problem down to the starter motor. After doing a little research online, I decided I could perform the repair myself. I ordered the motor and expected the replacement to take a couple of hours.
If you’ve ever replaced a starter engine, you know that getting to the starter is often the most time consuming part of the project. It didn’t take long to realize the tools I had on hand were not tailored for the job.
I’m a lot more comfortable around computers than I am cars. But I figured with detailed instructions in hand, I’d have my car up and running soon. That wasn’t the case.
I love apps that save time, even just a few seconds on each use. Most of my day is spent writing so any tool that allows me to keep my focus on that activity earns a spot on my computer.
Over the years, I’ve test dozens of utilities that promised to save time, and I’ve found that very few have lived up to that promise. Many are either too complex, require too much administration or just don’t work the way they should.
But a few apps have withstood the test of time. These are the apps I use multiple times a day. A few of these I use a dozen or more times a day. The attribute each has in common is they save time.
I recently had two experiences while shopping for groceries that I want to share. I do most of the grocery shopping for our family in the evenings when the crowds are lighter and the kids are in bed.
I decided to try the largest grocery store in the area. Inside is a deli, bank, pharmacy and coffee shop. This store is open 24 hours. I entered the store around 9 pm, grabbed a cart and made my way down the aisles. I was especially impressed with the bakery, but when I got to the produce area, I noticed most sections were covered with large tarps. It felt like a game of hide-and-seek trying to find the gala apples and seedless grapes, but I managed to find what I came for and headed towards the checkout stands.
Sales Consultant Jeff Stubbers recently took home an Asus 4K monitor for personal use, and he liked it so much that he wrote a blog post about it.
On the drive from the kid’s school to our home, we pass through a field of black lava formations on the outskirts of Santa Clara, UT. My daughter asked asked why the lava was black, and before I could say anything my son said, “The lava turns into obsidian when it comes in contact with water.”
Where did he learn that? Minecraft.
I’d never used a Dremel before.
But I’d have to learn if I wanted a PC that stood out from all the nondescript beige boxes my friends owned. So I spent the afternoon tracing the pattern on side panel of my Lian-Li aluminum case using a stencil I’d found online. Had YouTube been around at the time, I would have searched to find a Dremel tutorial but it would be few more years before it existed.
Puget Systems builds custom workstations, servers and storage solutions tailored for your work.
We provide:
Extensive performance testing
making you more productive and giving better value for your money
Reliable computers
with fewer crashes means more time working & less time waiting
Support that understands
your complex workflows and can get you back up & running ASAP
A proven track record
as shown by our case studies and customer testimonials
