Volume 3 Number 5

The Next Big Step

In our continuing effort to provide you with the best possible service, we thought we'd get a little help from M.O.M.™ That's Mail Order Manager™ software from

Soon we'll be able to have all our databases completely integrated. What's that mean to you? Well, we can expect to have fewer delays in filling your orders, greater flexibility in applying discounts and incentives for you, it should make it easier for us to track your orders, and for us to bring out new products for you. Eventually M.O.M.™ may be fully connected to our website. More on this later. Right now, we've got to get back to our diligent conversion efforts!

BTW: The "April Howlers" in last month's Newsletter really did contain a lot of gibberish, except for verisimilitude, of course. Some folks were trying to figure out what it actually said. It was just a little comic relief for April.

Fill 'er up?

No, not with gas. (At these prices!) But just about anything else will do. Check out the selection of our fine ceramic mugs.

"Flag Facts"

Here's a timely issue: The Governing Council of Iraq held a flag design contest a few days ago. The winner was an Iraqi artist named Rifaat Chaderchi. There's lots of controversy over the design and it won't be finalized until early May, but here's the first cut. The blue lines at the bottom are to represent the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. The yellow line represents the Kurdish minority. The white background is meant to symbolize peace.  (We can hope, can't we?) And the crescent is a pan-Arab symbol of Islam.

It's difficult to separate flags from politics, but there's a lot of issues involved here that we won't go into: colors, symbols, etc. Esthetically, most would agree it's a pretty design.

As it's not finalized, we don't yet have these available at . But you can bet that we will as soon as possible and let you know!

The Personal Corner

A friend recently received one of our humorous parking signs.

Of course he was pleased with the sign, but perhaps poignantly, he also spoke of times in India when there were signs up reading "No Indians or dogs allowed." Let's pray we've come a long way since those times!

Clarifications

The official name of the country is "Kingdom of the Netherlands". (Sometimes referred to as "Holland".) The people are called Dutch and the language is also called Dutch. The provinces of the Netherlands include: Drenthe, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant, Noord-Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland. The kingdom includes the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, and until its independence in 1975, Surinam as well.

Here's a Shield Patch of the Netherlands Antilles.

10% discount offer/quiz

We chose this flag based on the comment below regarding last month's answer.

Take 10% off any purchase made during the month of May 2004 by mentioning this offer/quiz and the name of this flag.

If you’re calling in your order, just mention this offer; if you’re ordering online, enter the flag name in the Comments Area on the order page and we’ll happily calculate your discount.

This offer is exclusive of any other offers and does not include Shipping and Handling charges.

Last Month's Offer/Quiz Answer:
As one customer wrote when applying for the 10% discount, "[It's] one of my favorite countries (almost entirely for phonetic fun while saying the country name)."

The flag was of the South Pacific country, Tuvalu, formerly known as the Ellice Islands.