The media seems to be full of bad economic news; meanwhile, Pegasus isn't feeling it much. Not sure it would in any case; comics shops often do well in bad economic times. My sales tend to go up or down due to trends in my particular and peculiar part of the world, rather than because of overall economic conditions. The major exception, of course, was the depression that Bend went through in the early 80's. Still, I think it's early in the cycle, especially for Bend. The pain signals haven't reached the brain yet.

My wife's store continues onward and upward. Makes me feel like we're much less dependent on how Pegasus does. Takes a bit of the load off. It's also reassuring in that the used book business just seems incredibly stable. I've decided that I have to back off sorting books at The Bookmark. I just have to let her and Kent and our friend Cameron take care of that. I've got my own store to sort. (I'll still bop by every day to see what came in, but resist putting books away.) I've been proud of myself for not interfering in her business decisions; though I can't seem to keep from hovering in a worried sort of way.

My major job, for the next few years, is to stick to budget. As boring as that. Stick to budget, and I succeed. Give in to my impulses and I fail.

Great example this week. I'd sent my reorders off early Monday. Then had three different people come in and buy Sin City books. Now, I'd thought 300 would sell, so I'm well stocked on that. I also got a nice consignment deal out of DC to put Frank Miller's Batman stuff out for sale. But I suddenly realized I was going to run out of Sin City books on 300's opening weekend, as well as not have any for a 'Frank Miller' display. So I ordered multiple copies, plus restocked on the super evergreens, Sandman, Preacher to reach minimum shipping. And, just like that, I've gone 250.00 over budget.

Good excuse, right? There's always a good excuse.

I've often wished I could have a CFO of some kind, who would issue me a check each week to spend. But it wouldn't work, unless I gave him legal control, and I'm not about to do that. I asked my wife to do it once, years ago, and she just laughed: "You can be very convincing...."she said. And it's true, I would weedle and conjole until I got my way. It comes back to me, and my own self-discipline.

So far, I went 100.00 over the first week; 100.00 over the second week; and it looks like this week, probably about 500.00 over. (I've yet to make my game order, so I knew I was going over by a couple of hundred, already.)

I just have to take it week to week. Try again next Monday.

All very mundane, but it's the most important issue in my business, right now.