Babbitry Rites of Spring.

I've been paying attention to the economy in Bend long enough now to notice certain seasonal rites.

Every spring, we get the "upbeat" reports. We are headed for prime tourist season, and or housing sales market. Time to roll out the Star Making Machinery. The Bubble Blowing Contraptions. The Hail Friends and Well Mets Sloganeering.

So any uptick -- any uptick at all -- will serve as positive news.

But I've also noticed that you can find positive and negative in the news at any time, sometimes with the same statistics, depending on how you interpret them. It's the spin, baby.

KTVZ has a really upbeat story on all the building in N.W. Crossing -- the development that seems to have the largest or the most adamant supporters. We were being told two or three years ago that the West side would be immune to any downturn, then it was, well maybe not the entire West side, but N.W. Crossing. I think the building there is more a case of: in for a penny, in for a pound.


Still and all. Downtown Bend continues to keep it's vacancy rate down. The town seems to be holding onto most of it's population -- we aren't turning into Detroit. Most importantly, we haven't turned into the poster child for boom and bust -- I think because most people aren't paying attention, and the bust lobby (bubble bloggers and such ) just dropped the whole issue. "See?" they said, and walked away.

The local real estate blogs are publishing some real nonsense, and no one is challenging them much. People are still moving to town, and still buying -- and when I talk to them at the store, I swear they have no idea that Bend is any different than anywhere else when it comes to the economy. Blessed ignorance.

So while I've lost a whole bunch of regular customers, I've also gained a few newcomers. Why and how they are managing to move to Bend is a bit of mystery.

The subtext is the alarming number of people who have lost their homes, around here. I'm amazed how cheerful some of them are about it -- but what you gonna do? Jobs? People scramble admirably, and find ways. People are survivors.

Bend's economy remains a mystery -- almost as much a mystery as it was when it was booming.

Thursday's WTF's.

A couple of years ago, whenever anyone talked about buying a house in Bend, I'd say, "Wait a couple of years. Wait a couple of years."

Not that anyone listened.

I stopped saying it, awhile back. (Giving advice is risky; I'd hate anyone to take my advice if it was wrong...)

But it looks today like I could still say, "Wait a couple of years..." and not be too far off the mark...

Housing vacancies are roughly double in Bend from ten years ago.

No rush, folks.

**********

I finally dealt with the sleep disruption of Daylight Savings Time by ignoring that it happened. Instead of going to bed around midnight and getting up at 7:30 or 8:00, I stay up until 1:00 and get up until 8:30 or 9:00. An hour more reading at night, an hour less internet-tubing in the morning.

***********

Fortunately, my brother-in-law ignored the above advice and bought a second home in Mt. Bachelor Village, which means the entire family has a place to come for gathering. All my sibs are coming this weekend. We'll scoop up the patriarch, Dad, and have a wild weekend.

**********

H.Bruce came in to look at the Droplets, which -- I hate to say -- weren't quite as cool as I thought they'd be. But I showed him my favorite figures -- the Potamusses. (Potamii ?) and he bought the last two in stock.

(Little brightly colored hippo's with attitudes....)

He got a green one (Enviro Potamuss?) and a black one with an Anarky symbol.

(Linda says, are you sure he wants everyone to know he's got Potamii? )

I'll risk it.

***********

I had a twelve year old girl in yesterday who didn't know who Marilyn Monroe was.

O.K. I can accept a certain amount of cultural illiteracy; if you talk about Presidents, you should know about Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelts I and II; I'll forgive you Jame Buchanan.

If you're talking about music, you should know about Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Beatles, Elvis; I'll forgive you if you don't know about Rachmaninoff and Little Richard.

If you're talking about Historical Figures, you should know about Napoleon, Caesar, Gandhi, Churchill; I'll forgive you, Hannibal and Attila the Hun.

If you're talking about Hollywood, you should know about Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne; I'll forgive you Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner.

Here's list compiled in 2009, of the top ten cultural icons of the last 50 years. Agree or disagree, (they seem skewed to recent deaths....) you should at least know who they are...

10. Paul Newman
9. Princess Diana
8. The Beatles
7. Oprah Winfrey
6. Mohammad Ali
5. Micheal Jackson
4. Marilyn Monroe
3. Frank Sinatra
2. Madonna
1. Elvis.

Bone up, kids. Or miss all the little references and in jokes for the rest of your life.

**********

On a regular basis, the news media will print an article about some financially struggling family.
I'd feel sympathetic until they'd give the details of income and benefits and the help they are receiving, and often I'd realize they had more money than I did!

I had a similar reaction to the near-retirement couple in the Bulletin today. They have 720K in savings, own a house worth 500K and they live modestly and intend to keep working part-time, at least.

For Gods Sake. Most of the U.S. would kill for that level of retirement; much less the world.

WTF?

A few percentage points here, a few points there....

To continue the theme of the other day's wonky post.

I used to not worry about a few extra percentage points in margin, or having a few extra days to pay, or getting slightly improved shipping costs.

I was on a steep curve of growth, and then decline, and then growth, and it was mostly about how high my sales were. Higher sales would compensate for lower margins, and higher sales would be facilitated by never running out, always having extra, and getting a constant flow no matter how much it cost.

I was always short of the Prime Evergreen material -- so my cash flow was constantly challenged by my just trying to get that stuff in, full wholesale or not.

Finally getting out of debt and then moving immediately into a growth boom (circa 2002 - 2008) allowed me to start building my inventory, so that immediate need to get material started to fade a little.

In other words, my store matured.

Once the store matured, I started being a little more savvy about percentage points, and shipping costs, and billing periods.

I was also able to stand back and start waiting opportunistically for "sales." These sales didn't happen as often in the old days; and they only happened with a couple of product lines -- cards and comics, so the frequency wasn't there.

Now? If I wait, I'll be offered a deal every week (often every day) in one of my categories -- new books one week, toys the next, graphic novels the next, and so on.

I grab at almost every one of these sales -- sometimes saving 5%, or 20%, and sometimes much more.

Even if it isn't EXACTLY what I was looking for, as long as it's viable product, those 5% -- 10%- 25% -- extra percentage points start to add up.

So do the extra few weeks to sell stuff before I have to pay -- longer billing periods, which means ordering more at the beginning of each cycle.

So do the shipping costs; either saving by buying the minimums for free shipping, or being savvy about how much to order at a time. (For instance, I've figured out if I order about 350.00 (wholesale) direct ship from Diamond comics, I get charged for one box, or about 40.00 postage, but if I order more, I pay for at least 2 boxes, or about 60.00 to 80.00 in postage.)

It all adds up.

Which is why it's been frustrating for me not to get the extra 3% from DC comics I want, and which would match the rest of my discounts. They raised their plateau just enough that I can't QUITE reach it.

Oh, if I order heavily on Vertigo graphic novels, probably my best-selling graphic novel line, and stock up extras for a few months, I can sometimes barely get to within spitting distance.

Oh, well.

The advantages and disadvantages constantly change. I have to constantly measure whether its more important to order exactly what I want even at full cost, and pay the extra shipping to get it in faster. Or...order stuff that's not quite top of the line for higher discounts, and wait for it to show up and avoid the shipping. And so on.

For a long period of time, I was paying an extra every week to buy my reorders on two days ships. Why? Because I basically got an extra week to two weeks of billing period (time to pay). Then the postage went up so severely, that it didn't seem worth it anymore.

Now, with the Diamond warehouse being back east, I can get an extra 3 to 4 weeks billing period, which has once again paid for the privilege of paying extra to ship it in two days.

Which, of course, makes it even more important that I keep trying to save on percentage points and shipping everywhere else.


Anyway, I got the huge order in yesterday -- and the true test of whether I overordered -- I fit it all in. It was close though.

Lizardbreath Taylor

I'm a little surprised about the muted reaction to the death of Elizabeth Taylor.

At least, so far. Maybe the star-eulogizing machinery hasn't gotten up to full speed.

(Sorry if the title seems disrespectful; but it's meant fondly.)

You can tell a lot about someone's generation by their reactions to certain people's deaths.

My Mom just couldn't figure out the fuss over Elvis. "Now if it was Sinatra," she said. "I'd could understand it..." heh.

My reaction to John Lennon was strong, strong enough for me to get on the phone and call friends and family. My reaction to Curt Cobain was, meh.

Anyway, I think Lizardbreath Tayor, as we called her in our house, was a bigger deal to me than the current generation, for whom she had become a parody of herself. It seems like lots of outsized personalities become parodies of themselves at the end of their lives.

I've mentioned this before; but I still remember seeing Cleopatra in a big art house theater in Portland, with ushers and intermission and the musical fanfare as the curtains open and the whole "Event" feeling of it. And chubby Lizardbreath riding into Rome on a pyramid, or something.

And the pictures of her circa 1948 are breathtaking. So breathtaking, that I became very aware of picture touchups at the time (probably late sixties when I came across them). Because they were so unreal, I knew they couldn't possibly be right.

Ah, well. Farewell.



******Yep, spoke too soon....

"I'm Only Human."

I'm busily writing fiction again.

I woke up this morning with a first line full blown in my head. By the time I got out of bed, I had the first two paragraphs composed. (Below) By the time I left for work, I had the entire first chapter done (1000 words). (I'll save you from that.)

I even have a title: the above, "I'M ONLY HUMAN."

It's exhilarating, at least until it's exposed to critique. I'm going to go ahead and read the first chapter at writer's group tonight (7:00 at the Bookmark). Probably shouldn't do that, but I need to show the new members that I actually DO write.

I may have to change the name of the creatures from kimmel, even though I like the sound, because of a certain late night talkshow host.

The story is going to be a supernatural noir, it appears.



"You're going to turn into a common street kimmel, if you don't behave," my mother declared whenever I did something unnecessarily tacky.

I haven't seen a kimmel, common or otherwise, in over a hundred years. The horseless carriages were their final doom, I believe. The nasty fumes, the hard tires, the blundering human drivers. Kimmels had less chance than your average possum or gray squirrel of surviving the roads. They were cute, but they weren't exactly canny.

Ah, yes. Blundering humans..."

Making a federal case of it...

Unless there is more to our D.A.'s case than has so far been revealed, it mostly seems unnecessary and distracting.

The last few weeks of murdered, run over, and disappearing people has certainly pointed to what seems like an escalation of stress around here. The financial consequences may be catching up to people right about now. Housing prices are still dropping around here, which probably surprises everyone but the bubble bloggers, and it's getting beyond the dire level even some of us predicted.

And the D.A. is off on some wild goose chase.

Something I've noticed about Bend voters -- and maybe it's true everywhere -- but we tend to throw out of office perfectly good competent public 'servant's' and often replace them with less so.

You never know, I guess. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

Oh, sure. Every city manager, D.A., or politician accumulates enemies -- they can't please everyone. Friends come and go. So it's probably inevitable. And probably necessary when our public servants get a little too ensconced.

Still, sometimes its best NOT to make too many changes when the world is quickly changing around you. We seem to want to fire experienced city managers and D.A.'s when we need the experience the most.

Droplets.

I'm getting these little designer art toys called "Droplets" in this week.

I was commenting on my Pegasus Blog, that no matter how much I love these kinds of things, they simply don't sell all that well in Bend, because people don't know what they are.

Which begs the question: Do people buy because of intrinsic quality, inherent value? Or because it's a known quality, a familiar culturally approved item?

The other day I was so tired of explaining that my "Ray Gun" wasn't attached to any known license, that it was a work of art and just plain cool looking.

"It's just a raygun," I said in a deadpan voice. Hey, I wasn't trying to be rude. But it's $700.00, and there was no chance in hell that they were going to buy it -- and, well, it IS just a raygun. A very cool and neat raygun for anyone who has eyes on quality. But, hey, it aint' Flash Gordan's raygun or Buck Roger's, or, more to the moment, Star Wars or Star Trek -- so it don't exist.

For most people, it don't exist if they don't already know about it.

Sorry, it's just true. Funny thing is -- and I've seen it over and over again, if for some strange reason a customer actually breaks through and buys something like that, sometimes as a 'joke' -- they are totally jazzed the next time I see them. Pleased and happy, and boy, they want more of "That." You know, now that they've actually had it at home and it stands out amongst the cultural detritus.

So these "Droplets": they ain't Smurfs and they ain't Beanie Babies.

They are visually pleasing works of art.

And even though every customer who sees them will be intrigued -- indeed, more intrigued than by the stuff they actually purchase, intrigued enough to pick them up and talk about them -- no one will buy them, until someone accidentally breaks through and then they and their friends will buy me up and wonder why I can't get more....

One barrier at a time...

CSI: Miami. My brain has melted.

After working on orders all day, I just wanted to relax in front of the T.V. last night. But there was nothing on. Didn't really want to get into a 2 hour movie. Saw some ads for Miami CSI, which are simultaneously ridiculous and alluring.

So, against my past experience and better judgment, I watched it.

It was awful. Just horrid. Sloppy dreck. Badly written, (both dialogue and plot) , badly directed, badly filmed (why actually film anything, just throw the drenched reds and yellows at us), badly acted (Caruso drives me crazy and the other actors appear to be going through the motions with faint tinges of embarrassment.) Even the set design was awful: for a warehouse, it looks like they threw a table into the middle of the floor and put a few cardboard boxes on it.

When we first started watching it, Linda asked: "Which CSI is this?"

"I don't know, but if there is a girl in a bikini in the first 30 seconds, it's Miami."

Sure enough, 20 seconds later a girl in a negligee answers the door.

The plot? It involved -- get this -- heroin being molded into dolls for transport (ludicrously white dolls, cause it's heroin, you know, unlike the normal pink dolls). How fresh!
I don't think I've seen that Macguffin since, oh, 1979 or so.

The dialogue? It consisted of Caruso's grandpappy voice saying to the young offender: "You really shouldn't do drugs. They are bad for you." Stuff like that.

Speaking of set design. The lab consists of plexiglass and blinking lights, just like the bridge on Star Trek -- around the year, 1969.

I'm not a technical person, but this show made me feel hip. So they find the offender's computer (you know, with all the information they need on one laptop) which, gasp, the password is encrypted!! (not the actual material).

(The F.B.I. takes away the actual laptop, but not before one of the techs uses a flashdrive the size of a book to download the information -- seriously, it was like the size of briefcase, and the F.B.I. guys didn't notice, which means they're even stupider than CSI. Miami, which is a scary, scary thought.)

So they have 2 tries to get the right password. One guy stares at a screen, and comes up with a word. (Don't ask how -- it's magic.)

Oh, my gosh it doesn't work. Oh, no!

The computer conveniently shows them they have only 30 seconds to come up with the password. Oh, the tension!!!

The guy stares at the screen some more, and with 5 seconds left, he blurts out, "That's not even a word!" Then he throws out a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, which -- wow, what a relief !-- open all the treasures of the kingdom. Take that, druggies!

Yep. The big technical revelation is that the password's "not...even...a....word!"



Who watches this stuff, and why? I have a new rule, the 80/80 rule. You have to have an I.Q. of under 80, or be over 80 years of age.

(Or, you know, watch it accidentally. I swear I didn't mean to do it.

Dear god. I have paid the price.....my brain has melted.....)

Linda noticed (I've mentioned before, she's a continuity hawk.) They show the murderer's feet early in the show, and he's wearing black sneakers. At the end of the show, they show the same scene, with the murderer in full -- and he's wearing brown sneakers. Doh!

"Wow," she says. "Those CSI guys are getting older, fatter and balder."

But that's a personal attack, and I won't go there.

Bring on Spring Break!

I'm getting $4000.00 worth of retail reorder product coming on Tuesday. Completely restocking games, cards, and new books.

Last week, I completely restocked on graphic novels.

I'm also getting $3000.00 worth of regular shipments from Diamond.

And probably $1000.00 more in reorders by the end of the week.

That should be enough to satisfy even a spendaholic like me. That's about 2 to 3 times more than I should probably be getting on any one week, but it seems to be where and how the schedule of restocking fell.

Partly, I'm ordering the bulk of my material in the first quarter of every billing period, so I have most of the billing period in which to make sales.

This means, that if I sell something right away, it could be as long as 3 or 4 weeks before I get it back in, because I have to wait for the next billing period. Spot shortages, I call them, and they are the bane of my existence.

If I ordered a more equal amount of the budget each week, any spot shortages would be more quickly filled.

Still, I'm more comfortable with allowing the spot shortages to occur (and for the vast majority of product that doesn't happen) because the store is so full of other good stuff that I don't think I'm usually disappointing the customer. Eventually (actually it's already starting to happen) I save enough money by doing it this way that I can start ordering more than one copy at a time.

And there are the shipping costs to be considered. I have to order a "minimum" from each publisher, to save on postage -- so I couldn't divide my orders into four equal weekly shipments even if I wanted to. And for those distributors who don't have minimums (which cover shipping costs), it still saves to put most of the orders into one shipment.

This is wonky, I know, but it's nearly the essence of running a retail storefront.

What, when, and how much product -- and how much you pay, and how much the shipping.

Nuts and bolts.

"I liked it, so it must not be genre..."

Reviewers have this cheap reviewing trick: if they like something, it's "elevated" above the rest of the genre.

Today's review of a BEYONDERS, by Brandon Mull, there is the statement that most fantasies are "....populated ... with wizards and brutish men skilled in the arts of hunting and swordplay."

Oh, come on. Fantasies haven't been filled with "brutish men" since -- well, maybe Robert E. Howard, about 70 years ago.

Same thing happens everytime a reviewer reads a graphic novel and likes it: well, golly gee, it's a comic book and it's better than I expected, so it must be "elevated" above everything else.

Of course, the one that drives me up a wall is a movie review that tells me that some movie or another is "elevated" above the comic book origins. Well, no. Not usually. In fact, most superhero movies are telling stories from 20 years ago or more, and the art form has more or less moved beyond such simple tropes. If anything, the movies are slightly retarded spoon fed, meet the expectation of the muggles, versions.

So whenever a reviewer "likes" a genre, it must be because it's somehow is above and beyond the type? Only if you haven't read much of it.

More often than not, what they're reviewing are just examples of the better written stories in those genres, but rarely do they actually rise above. Because, Sturgeon's Law aside, most art forms have good, bad, and indifferent.

What it reveals to me, more often, is the ignorance of the reviewer. And I don't know about you, but ignorance of the form isn't what I'm looking for in someone who is recommending things to read...

fond faulty memories

Did you notice the Earthquake map? Bend appears to be on the border between the yellow (second most dangerous) and green (right in the middle.)

Growing up, the sort of assumption was -- rumor, I suppose -- that Bend was one of the safest places from natural disasters. (I guess they weren't taking into account volcanoes and forest fires.)

Supposedly, we were in a zone that even in the event of nuclear attack would be nestled on the 'other' side of the mountains, etc. Prevailing winds and rainfall and all that.

Probably all fantasy, or I'm just remembering stuff wrong -- cause I was young. My Dad was a storyteller, and I probably embellished.

Supposedly, the Redmond airport became Central Oregon's main airport because it was long enough to be an alternative (2nd? 3rd?) runway for the B-52's.

Supposedly, there was a vast weapons and equipment and energy cache in the high desert, hidden by the government.

Supposedly, the Deschutes could never flood because of all the lava tubes.



I also don't remember wild turkeys in Central Oregon, so what do I know?

Mildly incorrect.

The thing I want to know is how that actress who just got dropped from Criminal Minds also managed to star in Chase, and Fringe, and all those other shows....

**********

I know this was completely unintentional, but it still raised an eyebrow. A neighbor who was interviewed about the missing woman in the Old Mill:

"She has a husband and a dog --- and she really loves that dog..."

(Sorry if that's inappropriate, but it was darkly quirky.)

**********

Movies have gotten frighteningly good at showing those impacts between speeding cars and pedestrians.

Character says something faintly optimistic about the future, then "WHACK!!!" Flattened.

I think it's actually made me a little more aware stepping off the curb.

Knock wood.

**********

How to never be convicted of murder -- fire your lawyer halfway through every trial. Then appeal to the Supreme Court that your trial took too long. Brilliant.

**********

Letter to the Bulletin: "Unions are too strong."

Well, you know, apparently not.

**********

Every single talking head expert I heard said the U.N. would never approve a no-fly zone in Libya.

Yet there it is.

I remember when news was news, and talking heads were on radio where they belonged. And there should be a three strikes and you're out rule -- express an opinion and be completely wrong three times, and you no longer get interviewed.

Unfortunately, the American public has the attention span of a Glee cast member.

**********

I'm starting to develop an antagonistic relationship with Linda's cellphone. Annoying thing, makes all kinds of weird noises, starts talking in the middle of movies. Last night she was fiddling with it for an hour after going to bed.

Finally, I snagged it from her: "I really don't want this in the same room with me when I sleep...."

We were at friends house a few nights ago playing Carcassonne; and their cell phones seemed to go off every few minutes. (Admittedly, their young kids were at a neighbors and they were keeping track...)

I'm telling you, as a cell-less person, you people appear to all be turning into androids.

***********

This whole last month on T.V. appears to have been reruns, basketball tournaments, and pledge drives.

I'm getting a lot of reading done.

**********

Reversion to mean. Classic. Tunisia and Egypt -- followed by Libya and Bahrain and Yemen shooting their demonstrators.

**********

I was looking at the Wiki entry for Bend. From roughly the time I was born to the time I went to college, Bend grew from 11,400 to 13,700. Sleepy little town.

I think it grew by that much about every other week in the mid-00's.

**********

Dear Diary,

This is probably the most mundane entry I've ever made.

Dear Diary,

Slept in this morning, which I hardly ever do. I've been sleeping horribly (Curse you Daylight Savings Time, I call for your immediate repeal!).

I have a pinched nerve in my neck, (which I get when I sleep wrong) turning me into the Hunchback of Notre Dame. And of course, this is the weekend I have to do monthly orders which will be a strain on my neck.

Had a hankering for those horrible crispy meat burritos from Taco Time last night. The lone T.T. in Bend is about as far from our house as you can get; taking fully 20 minutes one way. So we get home, and the meat burritos aren't in the bag.

We get back in the car and drive on back for them, thus spending most of an hour and who knows how much gas in order to get 6.00 worth of food.

But....it's the principle of the thing!

That's all for now, diary. See you later.

This town ain't big enough for the boths of us....

Apparently Wabi Sabi (the Japanese store) has been really busy. They've moved into a big new space on Wall St.

I'm jealous. I told my employee Cameron that I was going to tell everyone their stuff is RADIOACTIVE!!

That'll fix 'em.

So now I just have to figure out how to eliminate the rest of the downtown competition for the dollar.

Let's see. the sugar in Powell's and Goody's candy comes from Cuba. That's right. IT'S COMMUNIST CANDY!!!

Leaping Lizards? Hey -- those toys are ---get this -- EDUCATIONAL!!


Soon I shall have Downtown Bend to myself -- wuuuhhhhahahahahahahah!!!!!!!!

Behind the technical eightball.

Just by talking to a few people about my online publishing efforts, I realized there is yet another movement happening online which relates to what I do but which I was unaware.

And I try to be aware.

What chance do any of us have who aren't even trying?

Art and technology are intersecting in all kinds of ways below the radar, and I suspect they are going to explode full blown onto the scene and surprise just about everyone. Stodgy old publishers and media are just browsing the surface.

There will still be room for old-fashioned, brick and mortar stores -- but this whole idea that somehow existing stores are going to co-op the new technology and art movements is just naive.

Like adding an engine to a bike and thinking you're up to date -- and the Harley Davidison is coming up on your rear view mirror and is going to blow you to the side of the road.

All stocked up.

For the first time in a long time, I was able to start a month's budget fresh, not having pre-spent any of it. (Of course, pre-spending a budget isn't budgeting at all, but I always convince myself that getting it earlier, rather than later, is beneficial.)

Last week, I was able to start ordering from Diamond, and this week and next, I'll be able to start ordering from everyone else.

I maybe made a mistake by ordering too many books from the liquidators last month -- they're good books, but they are coming in faster than they are selling. Yesterday I made my regular book order and it came in at 2000.00 worth of books, which will be a challenge to fit in.

Most of them are replacements for evergreen sellers, like To Kill a Mockingbird and Clockwork Orange and 1984, plus some new intriguing books like Swamplandia. Stocked up on Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin.

It just seems like a complete and total no brainer to keep on buying the classic and cult books --which sell and sell and sell. All I need is enough them, right?

I like to refresh the store by buying books like Cutting For Stone and Water for Elephants, and newer books like Swamplandia which sound intriguing....

Meanwhile, on the gaming front, I filled in most of the holes in the game inventory with one last March order, that came in last week. I'm going to fill in the rest of the holes this coming Monday and Tuesday.

All in all, I'm well satisfied with the level of inventory in the store -- which, as I keep saying, I spent literally decades trying to get to the point where I could say that and mean it.

The store just keeps perking along. My 'minimum sales level' is actually pretty easy to reach, which is by design -- low enough overhead.

And the diversity of the store seems to be working. If one category isn't selling one day, another category is. Downtown and longevity is providing the customers (though it's still dismaying how often I hear the words "I didn't know you were here" and "I didn't know you carried this stuff."

But, my feeling is that the store is where it needs to be, and that's very satisfying.

Lessons from blogging for fiction writing.

Speak directly but casually to the reader. Don't try so hard. Just be natural.

Break it up, man. The long paragraphs and chapters are too much work for the casual reader. You can do without so many comma's.

Anything goes, unless it doesn't. Brainstorm anything and everything. You can always weed it out later. (This is true for me, because I tend to underwrite the first draft, if anything.)

Try to put some background thought into the story before you write it. I tend to just write out the story, and worry about the historical underpinning later. With the blog, I'll mull and contemplate an issue for some time, even nesting it in the "drafts" for days or weeks, before I'll go ahead an push the "publish post." Except, you know ---- for when I don't do that....

A little bit at a time really adds up. But only if you do it. 4 years, 4 months of blogging.

You can't always tell in the course of writing whether its good or really good, bad or really bad. Or just meh. The readers always surprise me. So write the damn thing and come back later.

Nothing funny?

You know, it looked so pathetic to be dumping that whisp of water from helicopters onto the Hellgate's #1 - 6.

I mentioned that to one of my customers, and he said, "Lawn sprinklers -- those ought to work..."

Funny thing is, if I may use the word funny in relation to Japan, is that when I first started seeing pictures of the tsunami, it looked so casual, the flowing water, like rivulets of water on my garden, kind of slow moving and leisurely meandering.

Until I started translating distance and size.

And then, chill went down my spine.

Again, this isn't meant to be a joke, but, really -- Godzilla was the result of "nuclear experiments" gone awry. So all those comments about the radiation drifting off the sea -- like that's a good thing -- hey, some little fish in the Sea of Japan is even now mutating.

And Linda's comment: "So weird that Japan, of all countries, would go full in on nuclear power."

Writing as a form of A.D.D.

I've noticed in reviving some of my older material, that I'm more interested in newer material --

Which is the kind of reaction I've noticed in the past.

Back when I was writing full time, I was writing all the time about all kinds of things. I was writing letters ('letters' are pieces of paper upon which you wrote thoughts to friends and family and sent by way of a postage stamp). I had extensive journals.

The words just start flowing in all kinds of directions.

At the same time, I had little patience for anything else. I was all hyped up. I couldn't concentrate on T.V. or books or conversations. I certainly couldn't concentrate on a new and challenging business. Or having a new family.

Which is one of the reasons I quit writing for years. I couldn't do both. Some writers obviously can.

I'm hoping that things are stable enough, routine enough at the store to be able to be slightly distracted all the time. I'm hoping my wife (Linda is in the midst of her own book) will understand.

T.V. is no great loss.

I'm determined to keep reading.

Anyway, it's as if I need to build up a certain amount of internal pressure to start applying words to paper --um, screen. Which pressure drowns out everything else.

And once the pressure is let out, it comes out in all forms, including, I warn you, blogging...