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June 16, 2009

Congratulations from Xerox!

We were having this sort of afternoon.

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Sluggish, lackluster, laconic.

And then I received the following email, and things took a sudden turn.

Dear Matthew Swanson of Idiots'Books,

You recently submitted an entry into the Xerox Solid Ink Print Sample Contest and I am happy to inform you that your entry has been chosen as the winner for the Entry Category of "Professional Graphic Arts!" You have 5 business days to decide if you would like to receive your prize. You have the choice of either a Phaser 8560N Solid Ink Color Printer with 2 months worth of Solid Ink OR a 2GHz Aluminum 13" Apple MacBook.

Congratulations from Xerox!

Sincerely,

Xerox Dude

We had won?! We had to pinch ourselves.

It has been a long time since either Robbi or I won a prize, and we were elated. Especially Robbi.

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I was elated.

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Alden was elated.

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Iggy was still depressed, but had to go through the motions nonetheless.

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To explain, we use Xerox solid ink to print our books. Instead of laser toner, which is a fine powder that is affixed to the page in the printing process, solid ink is a waxy chunk that kind of feels like a crayon. The "ink" is melted onto the page as the printing occurs. The resulting images are rich and high-quality, which is one of the reasons we use this technology. Xerox hosted a competition for all materials printed using solid ink. We submitted a handful of books and an essay explaining what we do.

We hadn't had much in the way of expectations, but now we're awfully glad we decided to enter. Now, apparently, we have five days to decide whether we want to receive our prize. I'm trying to think of a scenario in which someone would not want a free printer or a free laptop, but have so far come up dry.

Posted by bogenamp at June 16, 2009 09:31 PM