Bloggy talk.

I was saying something to my wife the other day, and it came out kind of funny. (I wish I could remember what I said, it might make a more interesting story.)

Linda looked at me kinda bemused, and repeated it.

"Oh, that's bloggy talk," I said. "I guess I'm talking like I blog now, and blogging like I talk."

I wake up in the morning with blogs already formed in my mind.

This is getting ridiculous.

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Looking at the Obamas' smoking picture that adorned the BB2 blog last week; I wonder if he gets the urge to smoke in the Oval Office? Does he sneak a puff, and burn incense to cover the smell? Does he sneak out onto the portico to have a full furtive lungfuls? Does he have his secret service guys fetching smokes? "Whatever you do, don't tell Michelle!"

The picture makes him look like an oh, so cool jazzman or something.

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Got a call from a Prineville landlord asking if I'd like to open a branch downtown.

I was a little surprised. "No, I did that already. 4 stores, one in Redmond and one in Sisters. I think Prineville might be a little small in any case, and this might be bad timing."

"But so many businesses have closed around here," he said. "A new store might do really well!"

Strangely, that actually seemed to make a weird sort of sense....

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Heard from someone that two years ago, the City of Bend was installing about 10 water meters a day.

Now it's something like one water meter a week.

Even if it's an exaggeration (and the person telling me this wasn't someone with access to 'official' figures), that's pretty startling. It means just dribs and drabs are being finished up.

He also said they have a list of 700 houses who have been turned off due to non-payment, and haven't been turned back on....

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NATIONAL HOLIDAYS IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE.

Retail importance, that is.

Christmas
Thanksgiving
Super Bowl
New Year's Day
Labor Day
Valentine's Day
President's Day
Veteran's Day.

That's right.

Super Bowl Sunday is more impactful than New Years. The second worst day I ever had in my store was a Super Bowl Sunday.

I'm probably going to take this opportunity to take a day off, though I may show up for a couple of hours to finish up some work. Home by 2:00 with a bowl of chips and soda and maybe -- to be extra indulgent -- some donuts.

Such an exciting life I lead.

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Obama merchandise continues to sell. I missed the boat on this, mostly, because of bad timing. Didn't get initial orders in for a variety of reasons, then got too few, then didn't reorder the reprints soon enough, then got too few, and so it goes.

About the time I order a whole bunch, everyone will lose interest....

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I'm finding a silver lining in my working every day. First of all, I seemed to have found my groove. I was worried that first couple weeks, but it settled down in the third week, and the fourth went very smoothly. In fact, I had a couple of really good days the last two days of the month.

By being there everyday, I'm much more aware of what's selling and how fast it's selling, and can gauge reorders much more accurately. I can be much more responsive to the customer.

I've decided to bring back the Direct Ship Reorders, which means I can say to people, "I can get it in two days...." (or three or four...but never more than a week.)

I'll have a much longer entry on how I did for the month, tomorrow....

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One more thing I'm noticing about business. My diversification efforts have really paid off. Everyday I sell some things unusual, or off the beaten track.

Never has it been so true that "I don't sell a lot of anything, I sell a little bit of a lot."

Mixing my store up the way I did was neither obvious or easy.

So I'm going to pat myself on the back for it.

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Next week I'm getting the new wave of magic (CONFLUX). I'm getting more than I should, because I tried to order through my comic people for the first time, and it turns out I won't get the product from them until next week.

So I ordered through my usual channels. I have to have enough for the first weekend, so I actually ordered more than last time overall despite the fact that I have new competition.

The other game store is officially open, I guess. I think this may prove very beneficial in the long run, but I'll be interested to see if I take a hit on my magic sales in the short run.

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Speaking of competition. I'm still selling a bunch of Settlers of Catan (selling out way too often, because I haven't got a fix on it yet). I found myself becoming a little proprietorial the other day. This is MY PRODUCT, kind of feeling.

I need to detach myself from that feeling. It's a fine line between enjoying what you're doing, and feeling like you have the right to be the ONLY ONE doing it. A kind of competitive, protective, territorial urge starts to take over.

Which can only cause bad feelings in the long run.

No product stays proprietorial for long. Let it go. Go with the flow....

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Got my Watchmen toys in. I really liked the Rorschach character in the books. Very unusual hero, to say the least.

So I ordered extra Rorschach.

Opened the cases and found that the extra figures were.....Rorschach.

I gotta whole lotta Rorscachs.