The "Retro" store.

Somebody should just start a "Retro" store.

Boardgames, books, non-electric toys, vinyl records....abacus's....

Make a virtue out of necessity.

I would go heavy on the mechanical toys, the art design toys, the retro-futuristic toys.

Also wood toys and puzzles.

Heavy on the classics books and records. Have an old fashioned record player, where you played records all day.

Chess, cribbage, go, backgammon.

You would pretend you've never heard of computers. (Of course, you'd have to track down an old mechanical cash register.) Just look at people blankly when they mention anything electronic. Have fake gas light looking fixtures. Maybe a candle or two.

I'd sit at my counter all day with a old typewriter and try to write.

When someone pulls out a cell phone, you say, "What demonic device is that!" and act scared.

You'd have a steampunk clothes for the store uniform.

Probably be best if you tried it in Portland, but if you had money to burn.... Bend would be cool. No...not cool, unless I do it.

I would call it: "Luddites from Space." or "Forward to the Past!" or "Steampunk Cafe" or ....?


Later:

And comics! How could I have forgotten comics? And sports cards!

What you would do would be play up the old-fashioned handlebar mustache era of B.B. cards, while mostly selling new ones.

Play up the 30's Batman era, while mostly selling new ones.


This wouldn't be a junk store. Everything would be shiny and new.

In fact, just about everything I currently carry would fit -- except my DVD's.

Anything New that had an Old-fashioned feel would be fair game.

I'm pretty sure most people with this idea would limit themselves -- but I'd go in whole bunch of directions.

For instance, have a heavy brass and mahogany section with all the steampunk; another brightly shiny metal and heavy plastic for my retro-futuristic section; another plastic, day glow section for my 50's style section; a paisley tapestry and candles for my Hippie section; a faux stonework medieval/fantasy section, and so on.

Obviously, I'd need a very big store, lots of money, and hip employees who stayed around for awhile.


I've come up with probably dozens of ideas for stores over the last 32 years -- but all of them run up against a problem.

There be only one of me, and I have my hands full.

Christmas wishes.

Hey, I could just have a nice Christmasy blog today (Merry Christmas!) but I think I'll just do the normal meanderings, since no one else is....

**********

Nice inventory management, if I do say so myself.

I have 3 each left of Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride: Europe, Carcassonne, and Settlers of Catan.

The store feels almost untouched -- probably because I was receiving shipments every day of the week. We have matched last year in sales, with six days to go. We will beat last year overall. I won't be able to zero out my credit cards, but having six straight months of higher than last year sales is worth it.

**********

Common Table gets robbed.

I wonder if this falls under the rubric of "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished."

The very people, one would think, that the place is trying to help.

**********

I've got the remember that number: 1,459 licensed real estate agents in Deschutes County.
"Realtors Get Real." Bulletin, 12/25/11.

And then compare it to the total number of houses sold this year. It can't be good.

I suspect that a handful of agents are reaping the benefits of all the others' efforts.

**********

It seems to me that the steady progress toward a 4 year campus in Bend is a model that the city and county should be following on other projects.

Sure, it isn't fast enough. But I think it's going to happen, because it needs to happen. A second city out at Juniper Ridge? Doesn't need to happen, and probably won't. Juniper Ridge could have been a modest "industrial park" success, instead of a grandiose failure.

A four year campus is taking much too long -- but in the face of overwhelming problems, it still seems to be trending that way. And it's much more feasible, with a solid foundation, than throwing money at land and spending huge bucks on plans that never come to fruition.

I wish the city would just take care of business, one step at a time, instead of constantly overreaching.

I'd prefer they use the money they are using to fight the state over the Urban Growth Boundary, the money they spent on useless buses, the money they spent on plans for Juniper Ridge that will never happen, the money they are spending on having the best of all (read: most expensive) option for the water system; the constant drain of studies that just tell them what they want to think anyway; the money they have wasted getting the handicap ramps wrong; and on and on...

...and spend it on having a real Mirror Pond again. You know, small, achievable goals.

Nah.

**********

Christmas Eve is a drug.

Every year the same thing happens.

About 5:00 Christmas Eve, a giant wave of lassitude sweeps over me. As if someone shot me up with endorphins.

I used to think it was delayed Christmas feelings. Strangely, in retail, it's hard to get into the Christmas feeling.

But I think it's more that the weight of worry has been lifted off my shoulders, at least for a while. I don't have to worry about having enough money in the bank to pay the bills. I can almost go into hibernation in January and February. What will be will be.

There is always a low grade worry when you own a business -- that you bought the right things in the right quantities; that people will come in the door; that they will be willing to pay the price you need.

The boundary between what a small retailer needs to survive and the price the customers are willing to pay is very very narrow.

So you are always walking a very thin line. And almost inevitably, during the normal course of a year, you'll be making mistakes. Little mistakes, mostly. Occasionally a big one.

You try to deal with it within cash flow, but sometimes you have to fall back on credit. So the credit debt starts to slowly accumulate.

And then, about twice a year -- the end of August and Christmas Eve -- you get enough of a boost in sales to not only pay the bills, but to pay down on the credit debt. You may not get it all the way to zero (I won't this year, because I decided I wanted a full store) but you take the edge off.

Then the low grade worry sets in, day after day, until the next Christmas Eve.

But right now, I'm just enjoying it and letting it wash over me.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We're open all day.

We could close at 4:00 or so, but I kind of like wandering around the store, tidying things up, soaking up the atmosphere, relaxing.

So I send the kid home and stay open myself that last two hours.

I also mosey around and pick up presents for family, anything I've had my eye on that people didn't buy. Scoop up several calendars and books and maybe a toy or two.

**********

I'm sorry. I just couldn't get myself to play Christmas music.

I'd planned to do it the last two days before Christmas, but....I couldn't do it.

**********

I need to update my talking points about the store.

I keep saying "We've been here for 30 years!"

But-- as of next week -- we'll have been here 32 years. In a few months, I will have owned the store for 28 years.

I'd never have guessed it. I never thought it was going to be my career. I'm glad it was.

***********

I think maybe I overdosed on people a little this week. Toward the end of my shift, I was feeling a bit frazzled and was just giving back blank looks when people asked me questions.

Fortunately, I have a cheery, well-trained crew in place this year.

Yesterday was the biggest day of the year -- maybe of several years. And we are a stone's throw from beating last year with a week still to go.

***********

Had the regular customer who is the husband of another downtown business owner. I was telling him that sales were good, but I'd also spent so much that it would still be a challenge to stay in the black.

He just shook his head. "Why do you guys do that? I keep telling my wife, the money you make is the money you don't spend."

Which is undeniably true.

But I just don't think you can ever remove taking risk from small business, no matter how many years you are around. If you weren't the type to take risk, you'd probably never have opened a store in the first place. And if you quit taking risk, then you're dead in the water.

**********

The real reason for the big reboot of the DC titles. I wanted to order more Green Lantern #4, and I had to go through page after page after page of Green Lantern stuff....

I suppose I still do, but at least the comic ordering has been simplified.

**********

A Bookish Proclamation.

I've settled into the notion that books and comics aren't going away.

I don't doubt the digital. I just think they'll co-exist, and in the end, many, many people, young and old, poor or rich, will prefer to actually own and read a paper book.

There will be a shakeout. Taking 10% or 20% or 30% or 40% off the top is going to be brutal to a lot of marginal businesses who didn't diversify. It's going to hurt the non-marginal businesses who did diversify.

But in the end, the demand will still be there and therefore the storefronts who will fill that demand will still be there.

I plan to be one of them.

When you want to talk books, come and see me!

Christmas business update.

Two busy (too busy?) 9 hour days in a row and I'm near done in. At the same time, it's invigorating to have so much activity. As always this time of year, I fantasize about all the things I could do if we had this much business every month.

I mentioned that we were briefly -- briefly, I tell you! -- sold out of a couple of boardgames. But we are restocked -- almost completely stocked in everything. So it was a bit dismaying to have a couple of people comment on the brief -- brief, I tell you! -- shortage.

We have had shipments every day this week, to keep up. In fact, that has been the theme of this Christmas; to make sure that I order everything we need. I've been all in. I can already tell that I won't need to do as much restocking in January and February as I usually do.

I can tell that I have a whole lot of work ahead of me convincing locals that Pegasus is not some fanboy dungeon. I'm getting constant remarks that the store "Has so much more of what I like than I expected."

Well, I've really made the effort to have a nice selection of books -- for every reader. In fact, I think I filled quite a few wish lists of people who totally didn't expect me to be able to do it.
(At the same time, I had a huge number of specific requests that I doubt ANYONE could fill.)

When people ask how we're doing, I never know quite what to say. It's been the medium range Christmas. I always forecast a high, a low, and a middle.

Pegasus is almost certain to beat last year, though the first half of the month was slower than I would have liked. It's been a good week, so far. But -- not to sound ungrateful -- but such largesse is Expected. It is Factored in. It Needs to happen. So, yes, it's busy -- but it's absolutely supposed to be busy. ("Is there no satisfying the man!")

We still have shipments coming in today, and I'm pretty certain our stock level right now might even be higher than normal. It was a bit of experiment to do it this way. Usually I try to sell through and make more profit; (and then spend all Spring trying to gear up again) but I decided I'd rather keep the store strong all the way through the holidays. So I traded higher sales and higher inventory for a bit of profit, which I think is the right move in the long run.

Boardgames and new books are the stars of the season -- again. I'd been wondering if the Euro-style boardgames had become mainstream enough that we'd be undercut; but they are still a mystery to the majority of customers. I didn't do as much handselling this season as last year, but we'll sell about the same.

These days, I'm not so much congratulating myself on taking the step of bringing in new books and boardgames -- as trying to imagine how my store would be doing without them. I dreamed last night that some 'interior decorator' type person was complaining about the store displays, and I patiently explain that my store only does well if it is as packed as I can get it.

It will be interesting to see how the store does in the week after Christmas. This can actually be more revealing of popularity than the week before, because that's when we become more of a 'destination' than a downtown browsing experience.

(sorry about all the "I"s in this entry....I never know when talking about my business whether I should say 'I' or 'we' or 'Pegasus' or 'the store'. It's all about me, me, me. heh.)

Rushing to nowhere.

So I read the lead story in the Bulletin today twice, to see if I was missing something.

Because it seems to me that neither the headline or the lead paragraph are proven by the ensuing story.

"Tetherow Investors Race to Claim Single - Family Lots."

On first reading it, I assumed to this was referring to -- you know -- actually buyers of single-family lots. But no, they are referring to those entities -- of which there are several, who picked up swatches of land out there and who now want permission to build homes. Problem is, they don't want to build the resort units that are necessary to fill the letter of the law.

"....ownership if fractured after the crash of the real estate market...." "....instead of one developer, there are no multiple owners and each has its own financial interests."

Bad enough for the one developer having to build an unprofitable hotel --but at least that developer would have had the whole development to ameliorate the costs. Hard to see how a bunch of separate parties are going to pull that off.

Oh, wait. That "unprofitable hotel" which hasn't been built accounted for the first 398 lots. What they are talking about it developing another 117 lots with the vague promise of more tourist units. (More tourist units when the original still not only aren't being built, but have been orphaned.)

Time to prove it. Build the hotel before any more lots are approved. (Where's the state in all this? Why aren't they enforcing the land-use laws here?)

Oh, by the way. I don't believe "rush" is quite the right word. Go ahead, go out to Tetherow and tell me there is a rush to build anything. This many years later, it still looks pretty empty to me.

Downtown Abbey. err....downton.

There was a time when I was seriously addicted to Masterpiece Theater. "I, Claudius." (Which inspired me to read the books, which were equally good.) and the one about Edward VII's mistresses, and....especially.... "Upstairs, Downstairs."

Just started watching "Downton Abbey," and, by golly, it's just another version of "Upstairs, Downstairs" as far as I can see. It's like someone took the basic elements of one of your favorite show, but then didn't copy any of the details.

Enjoying it, in the good old-fashioned soap opera way.

**********

Saw Mission Impossible on Imax.

Wasn't what I expected. I suppose it was quite a bit 'clearer'; almost had a 3-D feel to it, but not as spectacular as I thought it would be.

The movie was great fun. I didn't even mind Tom Cruise, who is still looking about 35 years old somehow....

**********

I'm really enjoying that Netflix streaming has so many documentaries available. Started watching Senna, about the Formula One race car driver, and they have a scene where they show a crash, and the driver (not Senna) is in the middle of the roadway looking like a pretzel. Very disturbing image.

Most of me doesn't understand the appeal of race cars -- but there is a small part of me that does.

**********

Finished off the first season of Downton Abbey. We had 4 episodes left to watch, and we couldn't stop watching until they were done. Totally grabs you.

Mary is a really fascinating character. She drives me nuts.

**********

Much as I'd like for the Tintin movie to succeed, I just don't care for the motion-capture process they are using. It's fine for non-human aspects, but the "valley of the uncanny" thing still bothers me.

I read a review that said Tintin is only known by "weird europhiles" which was funny and actually kind of accurate.

But I can sell them on that basis, just as I can sell "eurostyle" boardgames.

Apparently, most stores have gone to the smaller sized multiple collections -- but I've stuck with the original oversized color albums, which is more traditional.

**********

I was bound and determined not to run out of boardgames, but as of 2:00 p.m. yesterday I had sold my last base Settlers of Catan and the last base Carcassonne. Argghhh.

I have more coming in today, and I ordered more to come in on Friday, so I'll only be out for a few hours, but I still can't believe how everyone waited until the last minute!

Dis and dat.

Does anyone actually believe the unemployment rate has dropped around here?

Or have people just left town or the job market or gone back to school or assembled a bunch of part time jobs or under-the-table jobs or flat out retired?

Has someone been hiring I haven't heard about?

**********

How could I have been so stupid to just order two each of the 10.00 windup Tardis and Daleks toys?

Which sold out in one day?

By the time I tried to order more, they were gone. Damn. Always clear in hindsight....

***********

"Ready when you are, C.B.!"

**********

Just saw a little bunny wabbit run across my lawn. First of those I've seen. Squirrels, damned deer, double damned rockchucks, yes, but no bunnies. (I have smelled but not seen skunk.)

Ahhhh.....it's just a little bunny rabbit......Urgh!

**********

My breathing has been clear the last couple weeks, which is remarkable because it usually isn't. I broke my nose skiing 40 years ago, so one nostril is partly blocked even now. But I could actually live off it today, if I had to stick a straw in it and breath from underwater while Aliens were searching for me -- when normally I'd suffocate -- or be implanted by Alien spawn -- if I had to rely on it.

So, something environmental is affecting my breathing. Something outside.

(I've avoided both of Linda's colds -- I think because I'm pretty healthy right now, sleeping and eating right and all that. Much less stress because my hours at the store are finally reasonable and the stores are doing O.K.)

Just feels weird to be able to breath, and not to be wheezing.

**********

Ranch Records advertises as a "Music, Movie, Poster" store.

Yep. Hybrid is the way to go, these days.

I've been adding to every section of my store, even the slow sections.

I can really feel the overall pull of having so many books, games, toys, cards....buttons, posters, t-shirts, calendars, dvd's -- pop-culture paraphernalia of all kinds -- is having on the browsers.

Sure, it's a bit overwhelming.

But it seems to work. At least work better than just doing one thing and hoping the person who walks in the door is interested in that one thing.

***********

Rumor is -- (and just yesterday, I said I didn't pass on rumors!) -- that something like 80% of downtown businesses feel that there are too many street-closures downtown.

So I'll just leave that number out there -- labeled a rumor -- and see if anyone wants to give me the real scoop.

What'd we do?

Once again, the comments on Tilting at Windmills make my blood run cold.

Feel the love from the digital fans! (Excuse me while I slip quietly under the ice.)

I think retailers and digital proponents are talking past each other.

Pretty much the same with bookstores. I thought at one time that people maybe liked bookstore a bit more, but the recent column in Slate disabused me of that notion.

I think, somewhere at people's core, they really don't like retail of any kind. And if they have to do retail, they'd rather do it with some huge, faceless corporation.

Anyway, I've come up with some bullet points (for both comic shops and bookstores) that I think are true -- but like I said, I doubt the digital folks will agree:


*The market is small and not very strong. It won't take much to collapse it completely.

*The biggest casualties will be the very types of books the digital people say they want; small press, independents.

*Digital cannot totally replace physical. There isn't enough money in it.

*People won't start reading comics just because they have access to comics online. They have to want to read comics first.

*A lower price won't convert more people into readers, or cause current readers to buy enough more to replace lost revenue.

*Without a physical presence of hobby shops, the hobby will dwindle.

*There will be a blizzard of product with unconnected results. No one will know how anything is selling, or what has caught the attention of the general public, except the biggest, most common denominator books.

*There is sizable minority that can't afford to go digital.

*There is a sizable percentage who will always prefer physical books.

*Books and digital will probably co-exist for the foreseeable future.

*Revenues will fall for the publishers, who will eventually be mostly replaced by do-it-yourself.

*Small bookstores (comic-stores) can adjust better than large chains.

*Everyone will have to sell something else. Hybrid stores will be the rule.

*People like to shop. They won't quit shopping.

*There is room at the top, for the best. I don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the other prey.

*The market will evolve. Radio survived, albeit in a completely different format. T.V. is evolving toward cable quality shows.

Sunday suds.

I plowed through some of my backlog of New York Times newspapers.

Many hours later, my fingers were black and shiny, and I was soooooooo much more informed.....

**********

The article on the cluster of stores at Ninth and Wilson was interesting. I have no idea how this model of retail works. For me, the more foot traffic the better and I'm willing to pay for it. Saving a few bucks on rent just wouldn't make the difference.

The Bulletin mentions that they pay .40 a foot and downtown pays 1.50 a foot. Uh....try more like 2.00 a foot, (when triple net is included.)

Basically, the savings on rent would be worth about 20% of my sales. I'm pretty sure that my sales would drop by more than 20% by being in such an out of the way location.

Also, not being open 5 days a week?

**********

Much as I love writing this blog, I don't think of myself as a journalist.

On the other hand, I can see how a journalist might want to write a blog, and need to be protected by the 1st Amendment. Well, actually, I -- Do -- want to be protected by the 1st Amendment. Then again, I try to be truthful and honest in this blog. I try not to pass on scurrilous rumors. I try not to indulge in (too much) unfounded speculation. I try not to personally attack people. (And I try to enforce these rules on the comments as well...)

These are personal rules, arrived at by trial and error. I came to realize, for instance, that even if not a whole lot of people are reading this blog, that anyone can do a websearch of their name and what I say about them might pop up. I'm not interested in hurting people.

The Bulletin's editorial, and the article inside about the legal case surrounding Summit, raise a lot of troubling issues.

I can't tell you what a blog that deserves protection looks like, but I know it when I see it.

**********

I'm going have my first Imax experience this afternoon.

I'm not going because it's Mission Impossible.

I'm certainly not going because it's Tom Cruise. (Ugh.)

No, I'm going because of Brad Bird. Of the Incredibles. And even more importantly, of The Iron Giant!

Slate has jumped the shark.

I will dump websites when they get overly annoying. (Just as I have no doubt people dump this site all the time....) Anyway, first Slate had that horrible article entitled, "Indie bookstores deserve to die a dogs death, drowned in a vat of steaming poo." (Or something like that, I don't remember the exact words.) and then yesterday they literally --I counted -- had 31 articles on Christopher Hitchens. I kid you not.

Not to speak ill of the dead, I didn't much care for the Hitchen's constant railing against Clinton or his promotion and support of the Iraq war, but he could be interesting in a drunkard's way.

But for god's sake, show some perspective. 31 articles? Even 5 articles would have been overkill for me.

It is time to dump Slate off my daily readings. I'm taking the radical step of removing it from my bookmarks. (I'm sure they felt a cold whiff of fear....)

Is Christmas here yet?

I consider today to be the real start to the Christmas shopping season.

People are buying in-store from here on out. We get out-of-towners and tourists and vacationers and families. They LIKE downtown -- and I'm sure it's not as interesting to them to visit the exact same giant chainstores that they have where they came from.

Up until today, I've been having a hard time gauging the Christmas sales right. Too early, I suppose. I usually only do a bit above average in the first half of December, and then have a huge last 10 days or so.

I've been ordering tons of books -- and also anything else I think the store needs. My instinctive response is to order more material, not less, when in doubt. I can probably get a couple of more weekly shipments in before it's too late.

I also ordered a lot of boardgames, especially the big three: Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne. These games can sell in spurts -- like yesterday. I'm getting an order in today, which I thought would be the last of it -- but now, I'm thinking, I need to make one last -- just to be safe -- order. Not like I can't sell these games next year.

This time of year is kind of nerve-wracking because I just don't know what's going to happen and it matters. Trends are amplified. If something is selling good, it might sell even better. If things are on a downward track, they can go down even farther. Last year I sold more boardgames than I thought possible, but I was very aggressive in promoting them. This year, I'm just letting things happen. I'm not sure, but I suspect these games are more readily available elsewhere.

I mean, no matter what, (knock wood) we'll have one of our best months of the year. Despite threatening and blustering, the Sheriff of Nottingham hasn't quite managed to "Cancel Christmas!" yet.

I've kind of fallen out of the habit of comparing "This Day" to last year; and I haven't missed it. Except at Christmas. Then I kind of want to know what the trends were last year. Still, I haven't quite felt compelled to dig out last years records.

It will be what it will be.

A washboard road.

You want to see what bumping along the bottom looks like? Check out the graph in the business page of the Bulletin today. "Bend Home Prices At 6-Year Low."

/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

When the bust commenced I'd say to people who came in the store planning to buy a house -- "Wait 2 years." I started saying this in about 2007. I think I could probably say the same thing today -- at the very least, there isn't much jeopardy of the housing prices shooting up.

I regret that Bend Economy Board no longer posts their very handy "price changes" graph. It used to be 99% down arrows a couple of years ago, and if I was on the haunt (boo!) for a house, I would want to know about that.

I suspect it would be a whole lot worse if all the underwater and held back houses suddenly appeared on the market. It appears to me that they are trying hard to hold the line at about where it's at, thus the picture of a bumpy road.

Still catching up to us?

Yesterday, it was Pronghorn.

Today it's Fuqua Homes. "Bend Homebuilder Faces Suit Over Payments." Bulletin, 12/15/1.

One of the things about booms and busts, is you can get in the bad habit of constantly trying to see the end of them.

I've always maintained that isn't until about the time you give up looking for an end, that it actually starts coming around.

False dawns aplenty. Lots of boosterism. Wishful thinking.

Anyway, I see no real signs that things have improved substantially around here. Tourism has come to the fore, and that's what is keeping our economy from collapsing completely. That and retirement. Those were always going to be our main industries, and unfortunately, they don't pay all that well.

A lot of us Bubble bloggers were predicting a range of 7 years for the length of the downturn. That seemed to be about an average for regional housing busts. If that were to be borne out, we still have about 3 years of downturn to go. Got to remember, though, that Bend wasn't the average and this bust isn't the average.

I go back to the '80's and how we had to wait a good 6 to 8 years for the economy just to get back to close to normal. Bend's situation was actually worse back then, but the national economy was much better.

So I'm planning for us to just keep on bumping along the bottom, with casualties on a regular basis as it finally catches up to them.

The Kindness of Strangers.

I had an odd reaction to Farhad Manjoo's article in Slate: "Independent Bookstores are Expensive, Inefficient, and Don't Deserve to be Saved."

As you might imagine, at first it was, "What a jerk!."

Then it was, oh, this is just an outrageous ploy for attention. Besides, he's the 'tech' guy and not reliable in his assessment.

But you know what? I'm not going to even argue with the contents of the article. (Which I think is mostly bullshit, and wrong.)

The point to me is -- THAT attitude exists. It's not often said out loud, but it is a very strong undercurrent. In the comic business, there are the local comic book shop haters. It's probably a little less politically correct to say the same about local bookstores. But it's there.

This article has gotten 605 comments, and the ones I read were mostly in favor of his view. And it got 754 'likes'. A pretty big confirmation that he touched a nerve.

I think the wisest thing to do is be aware that that sentiment exists, that it is strong, and that there isn't much you can do to change their minds.

Deal with it.

Before I go any farther, I want to say -- I very much appreciate the "local" buyers, and the supporters of independent, locally owned bookstores -- or any other locally owned store.

But my own guess is -- the entire appeal to customers by the movement is pretty ineffective, except at the margins.

My own business model accepts that there is a large percent -- probably the vast majority -- who prefer larger to smaller, and that they will assume that larger will have more, at cheaper prices.

If we have to depend "on the kindness of strangers" I think we're doomed. We should take a cold, hard look at what we can really do in the face of this phenomenon, instead of just really, really wishing the Tinker Bell will get up an fly. Please....Tinker Bell?

So, my reaction is -- this is a bracing reminder of what we are up against, and it's best to take it into account.

Someone took a bath.

I'm assuming that since it's the loan notes that sold for Pronghorn, and not Pronghorn itself, that someone took a bath. At the very least, no blue sky.

Love how they spin it as a good thing. The lender "selected" the buyer -- um, because they actually had the money?

But I always look for this phrase: " He said he doesn't expect the deal to impact members."
You know, the "nothing will change" reassurance they always include, just before they change everything.

Having been turned away at the gates like a barbarian, I have very little sympathy for these guys.

And while I'm throwing water on things -- I liked the announcement the other day that the developers of Eagle Crest and a couple of other resorts were spending 3 million on updating each place and concentrating on the "resort" elements. Is 3 million supposed to be a whole lot? How much do they usually spend on just maintenance anyway?

Resort -- you know, the way it was supposed to be, instead of the subdivision real estate that it really was. The real money was in the buying and selling of real estate. Now they have to do something with those pesky things that were actually built....

Welcome to the tourist economy, folks.

So are there any of these newer destination resorts that HAVEN'T been dumped?

Dreamapooloza

Let's see.

I was trying to sell comics out of my college dorm room, but I suddenly realize I'm missing this week's comics.

I'm dating a sexy 30 year old girl, and am scolded by a nice looking middle aged woman who comes on to me.

I keep stopping my motorcycle in the middle of the road. A pedestrian comes along and pushes me to the side. (This after nearly going off the road taking a turn too fast.)

And on and on. One dream after another, like they had been blocked up.

**********

I was driving through the very busy intersection of 3rd and Greenwood last night, heading east, when I just happened to catch the silhouette of a pedestrian.

Then I couldn't see him again at all until I was about 10 feet away. Standing in the passing lane. Throwing his life to the winds....

**********

Poor German guy. He was just trying to be friendly. Girls on bikes!

**********

Bank robber is just going from town to town, now. I guess he wasn't planning on coming back, and didn't give a damn that anyone knew who he was.

**********

"....Amazon launched a promotion for Saturday that gives customers 5 percent off (up to $5) on up to three qualifying items on its site if they check the prices of those goods on the app while browsing at a physical store."

WIKIPEDIA: In business predatory pricing is the practice of selling a product or service at a very low price, intending to drive competitors out of the market, or create barriers for entry for potential new competitors. If competitors or potential competitors cannot sustain equal or lower prices without losing money, they go out of business or choose not to enter the business. The predatory merchant then has fewer competitors or is even a de facto monopoly and hypothetically could then raise prices above what the market would otherwise bear.

In many countries predatory pricing is considered anti-competitive and is illegal under competition laws. It is usually difficult to prove that prices dropped because of deliberate predatory pricing rather than legitimate price competition. In any case, competitors may be driven out of the market before the case is ever heard.

***

RDC will be along shortly with a vigorous defense of this practice....

Developing the themes.

Went out to the Badlands again yesterday for a few hours to try to write.

Well, more like think. I'm not really in writing mode right now, but more in a musing thinking mode.

When I wrote the first draft, I concentrated on plot and characters.

I'm finding that the more I think about how to improve the first draft, the more I'm thinking in terms of "theme." The themes are running through the story from the very beginning, which wasn't thought out on a conscious level -- but there it is. It's a mystery how that happens, and rather miraculous.

The themes are there, and they are in turn fleshing out the characters and plot. I think I've got a pretty good handle in what I want to accomplish with a second draft.

I'm thinking it will add about 50% more content.

Linda warned me against unnecessarily "complexifying" the story. Which I'm leery of. But in fleshing out the characters and the plot and fully developing the themes, I feel like it will make it a better book.

It's the old eternal dilemma: Do you want it fast or do you want it good?

(The answer is: I want it fast AND good.)