Some obvious stuff I nevertheless feel I must say...

Sending teenagers into danger. Sailing around the world. Climbing Everest.

Go. Read INTO THIN AIR, and then ask yourself what kind of parents would encourage their young son to climb Everest. I believe I read somewhere that for every 4 climbers who summit, one of them dies.

This narcissistic hunger for fame has long ago gotten out of hand.

Sure kids want to do that stuff. Sure extreme sports look like a blast. But a life-time injury or a lost limb or death seem like a high price to pay for a few minutes of thrill. Isn't part of the job of a parent to deny a bit of the short-term thrill in favor of long-term safety? Am I all wet, here?

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Bend taking stimulus money to build yet more "affordable housing." On one hand, we'd be pretty stupid to turn down the money and it will have a marginal effect on wages. On the other hand, there is a homeless event that might do some real, honest to goodness good, that can't be insured. You have to wonder about systematic priorities that can't adjust to the reality of the moment.

The whole "affordable housing" theme has always seemed somewhat off base to me. Lots of empty houses around here...It seems to me that the same money used to build 'new' housing could be spread a lot more evenly and efficiently as subsidies to get homeless into existing housing....

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Meanwhile, back at the store...

We have entered that ten day period in mid-June when everyone gets distracted. Kids getting out of school, vacation planning, second home moving, etc. etc. It's as though summer kicks in for real. About the last week of June is when things settle down and people start spending again.

I've said this before, but it's really true, summer business used to start about two week earlier, around Memorial Day. But schools seemed to extend farther into summer every year -- well, until recently, that is.

To compensate, summer business now extends into mid-September, when it used to come to a dead stop around Labor Day.

I usually try to save up my ammunition (money) from late May and early June until this period right here and now: If I order stuff this week and next, it will arrive just as Summer kicks in.

Though I've also learned that I'm actually better off ordering the most material in the off months, and less in the busy months, exactly opposite of what one would expect. I think its because of the out-of-town and off-the-street foot traffic, people who are finding stuff that all my regulars have passed on but which is all new to them, and so the inventory tends to sell on a broader range....

The biggest exception to that is Boardgames. I need to really stock up on them, because they sell best in Summer and Christmas, and tail off the rest of the year. So, I'm going to spend at least part of this weekend researching games and making sure I have an adequate stock.

I also stock up on Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield and The Far Side and Dr. Suess and Asterix and TinTin and mainstream impulse items that sell.

This year is a little different in that I'm usually recouping my debt on orders from the slow months during the summer, and most often don't catch up until September, when the whole process stars again. (Ordering big in Sept., Oct. Nov., and paying for it with Christmas).
This year I'm actually caught up at the start of July, so can spend a bit more than usual. It's nice to turn that around, and I'll be curious is it helps boost sales.