Monday, April 14, 2008
WACOM CINTIQ
I bought a Wacom Cintiq this weekend.
That's right...
Jealous?
Even if you can part with the Nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars it takes to buy one of these things, just purchasing one can be a challenge in itself.
I went to buy it at at Fry's Electronics who put on a fairly big production for a single piece of hardware. When I first walked through the door, I had a hard time getting an employee to look directly at me. Once I cornered one, like a frightened rabbit, and asked for the expensive bauble, all of the sudden I had changed in their eyes from a bum with no money, to an unstable character who at any moment could explode into a parade of testicle-kicking and hardware thievery.
As if I didn't have enough guilt about purchasing it already, the utter freak-out involved in getting the damn thing out of the store made me start to think twice about the financial burden I was putting on my family. (It's really not all that bad, we have the cash, but the never ending flow of random medical bills from the baby are STILL rolling in which makes me jittery about large purchases)
In any case, the thing was not even out on the shelves, nor was there any type of sign saying they even carried it among the cheaper wacoms and knock-offs. I actually had to find someone and beg them to point me towards the man in charge. They took me to the "guy with the keys" who then sent some poor sales associate into the "cage", as they called it, with a key and a flashlight to fetch the locked up item. Once the young girl came back, lugging both the heavy 20 inch and 12 inch wacom because she didn't ask me which one I wanted (I had a hard enough time explaining what a Cintiq was), they still wouldn't let me have it! They printed me out a ticket with my name on it and then raced it to the check-out aisle so it would be waiting for me. (I'm sure I was not that hard to beat as I unfortunately chose the path jam packed with sweaty men in ill-fitting shirts, pricing Cat 5 cable and external hard drives on my way to the front of the store. I finally broke free of them as they fell, one by one, to the sweet promise of caramel nougat at the candy aisle just before the check-out counter.)
When I finally tried to pay for the tablet, there was much curiosity displayed over what it was exactly I was buying and why anyone would pay that much for such a thing. I began to rub my head and worried some more that I was wasting my new family's hard earned cash.
Once they begrudgingly gave me my receipt I ran to my car as though I had a suitcase full of gold bricks cuffed to my wrist and would be jumped, beaten and robbed at any moment in the parking lot.
Of course, once I got it home, it was totally worth the price! It has taken a little getting used to, but man.... It's great. I really believe my productivity will double with this cool little gizmo.
...
Least I hope it does.
I'm still learning how to use it. I'll post some Cintiq work on Wednesday for review.
That's right...
Jealous?
Even if you can part with the Nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars it takes to buy one of these things, just purchasing one can be a challenge in itself.
I went to buy it at at Fry's Electronics who put on a fairly big production for a single piece of hardware. When I first walked through the door, I had a hard time getting an employee to look directly at me. Once I cornered one, like a frightened rabbit, and asked for the expensive bauble, all of the sudden I had changed in their eyes from a bum with no money, to an unstable character who at any moment could explode into a parade of testicle-kicking and hardware thievery.
As if I didn't have enough guilt about purchasing it already, the utter freak-out involved in getting the damn thing out of the store made me start to think twice about the financial burden I was putting on my family. (It's really not all that bad, we have the cash, but the never ending flow of random medical bills from the baby are STILL rolling in which makes me jittery about large purchases)
In any case, the thing was not even out on the shelves, nor was there any type of sign saying they even carried it among the cheaper wacoms and knock-offs. I actually had to find someone and beg them to point me towards the man in charge. They took me to the "guy with the keys" who then sent some poor sales associate into the "cage", as they called it, with a key and a flashlight to fetch the locked up item. Once the young girl came back, lugging both the heavy 20 inch and 12 inch wacom because she didn't ask me which one I wanted (I had a hard enough time explaining what a Cintiq was), they still wouldn't let me have it! They printed me out a ticket with my name on it and then raced it to the check-out aisle so it would be waiting for me. (I'm sure I was not that hard to beat as I unfortunately chose the path jam packed with sweaty men in ill-fitting shirts, pricing Cat 5 cable and external hard drives on my way to the front of the store. I finally broke free of them as they fell, one by one, to the sweet promise of caramel nougat at the candy aisle just before the check-out counter.)
When I finally tried to pay for the tablet, there was much curiosity displayed over what it was exactly I was buying and why anyone would pay that much for such a thing. I began to rub my head and worried some more that I was wasting my new family's hard earned cash.
Once they begrudgingly gave me my receipt I ran to my car as though I had a suitcase full of gold bricks cuffed to my wrist and would be jumped, beaten and robbed at any moment in the parking lot.
Of course, once I got it home, it was totally worth the price! It has taken a little getting used to, but man.... It's great. I really believe my productivity will double with this cool little gizmo.
...
Least I hope it does.
I'm still learning how to use it. I'll post some Cintiq work on Wednesday for review.
Comments:
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Man, that's really cool, but yeah, Fry's Electronics has the most unfriendly customer service on the planet.
But what was the THEME of your Fry's establishment? The one I go to has a tropical islands theme with hatched roofs and bikini-clad ladies. In Burbank it's the "aliens have just crash landed into the store" theme.
What a fabulous and well written blog about high tech tom-foolery!
I'm jealous that you have one and it's in my living room.
Glad you didn't get mugged for it and orphan our child and make me an art widow.
I'm jealous that you have one and it's in my living room.
Glad you didn't get mugged for it and orphan our child and make me an art widow.
Ooh! I just found out that there's another local Fry's with the "Alice in Wonderland" theme. I'm gonna have to check that out.
Note to self:
Avoid "Fry's Electronic" anywhere in the World... It's chock full of Under-Achieving DoucheBags, that don't even know what the Hell they have in the Store...
And "Yes", I am Jealous Ben...
Tony
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Avoid "Fry's Electronic" anywhere in the World... It's chock full of Under-Achieving DoucheBags, that don't even know what the Hell they have in the Store...
And "Yes", I am Jealous Ben...
Tony
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