I’m vaguely excited to be leaving on vacation with my wife and daughter in the morning. I love traveling and getting to share new experiences with these two amazing ladies and I’m always inspired with ideas for making Date-Line better when I’m in new places and spaces.

It was on one of these trips that I had the idea to put an M&M dispenser in our lobby and start a partnership with College Coffeehouse to offer our customers a discount on coffee.

My wife needed to travel to Phoenix, Arizona for work twice in 2011 and my daughter and I tagged along each time to enjoy a little sunshine and pool time. We stayed at the Hilton Easy Mesa and fell in love with the M&M dispenser they feature in their lobby. Each time we would go into or out of the hotel we would score a quick cup of M&M’s.

It was such a simple thing, but so memorable. So “wow.”

I still haven’t found the perfect dispenser – ours often dispenses an unsettling amount – but I wanted to bring a similar experience to the lobby here. And that got me thinking about coffee.

We often have customers that bring in a project and then scoot down to College Coffeehouse to grab some coffee while we quickly complete it. So we talked with the fine folks at CCH and worked out a deal to offer our customers a buck off any purchase of $3 or more.

It’s not a big deal. It’s not like winning the lottery. But Travis and I want to create an atmosphere of generosity, one in which we can give a little “wow” to our customers.

So as I wrap things up to leave for a few days I’m excited about more than just seeing new places and experiencing new things. I’m excited about what this trip will inspire. I’m excited about how we will be able to better serve our customers because of something that I notice while I’m out.

And I’m excited about the fact that the little things that make Date-Line just a little bit better aren’t really little things at all.