tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5295750951563150752024-03-18T13:03:20.163-07:00best minimum wage job a middle aged guy ever hadDuncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.comBlogger6020125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-89398885819553207552024-03-03T10:36:00.000-08:002024-03-03T10:38:04.327-08:00Working a week straight.<p>These periodic weeks where I work full time are good for me. I get the chance to experience the more general flow of the store.</p><p>For instance, I see more comic customers, which reassures me that it is still an active product line. I get to see where people are coming from by their zip codes; it appears to be more than half non-locals, though the majority of those are from Oregon. </p><p>I've been leading people over to the new back issue bins and that's been a great success. I need to remind Sabs and Ash to physically lead comic customers over to that section.</p><p>(My crew at are a comic convention in Seattle for six days...) <br /></p>I've also sold one of my own books every day I've worked, without really trying that hard. There is a certain percentage of people who will simply buy; but I can't tell who they will be in advance. The heavy majority will shrug it off, but a significant minority will buy. <p>Could I still work every day if I had to? Probably now, with this slowdown, but it would be very hard. The problem I have with people is more me than them. There is a fair amount of thoughtlessness, but I don't think there is maliciousness involved. So it's up to me to shrug off the thoughtlessness because I can't change that. </p><p>I'm definitely tired. No way around that. And that is due to age, I think. I could probably get back into the routine if I had to; it's a matter of rationing my time and energy, of delegating time, pacing myself. </p><p>I feel really good about the store. For once in my career, there is very little I would change, and nothing much to add. Just keep refining what we're doing. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-52957070639901750092024-02-20T12:11:00.000-08:002024-02-20T12:11:49.601-08:00I have the weirdest bookstore.<p>Every week I order the big books--the ones that will be on the New York Time's bestseller lists. For instance, last week it was "Women," by Kristin Hannah. The week before that it was "Gothikana," by Runyx. And so on.</p><p>I can tell they're going to be big books by how many copies my wholesaler has available; a pretty sure sign that the book will be heavily promoted. I have a benchmark number that I automatically order.</p><p>However...these books rarely sell for me. They certainly don't sell fast, and they don't sell in big numbers.</p><p>I know that most bookstores sell the hell out of these books. I often visit Brandon at Herringbone Books here in Redmond (a really great bookstore, by the way) and he sells most of the big new releases by major publishers far better than I do.</p><p>And yet...and yet...</p><p>I sell hundreds of books a week. We've been on a very healthy streak for years now. We ring up book sales all day. And there sits the #1 book in the country, gathering dust. </p><p>If I had set out to change my store into a bookstore by doing the traditional things, the store would have failed. I'm not sure why--mostly, I think locals have a pre-concieved notion of what we are. </p><p>Instead, I have a regular clientele of people looking for the unusual, the quirky, genre books, and standards; classics, cult books, etc. We sell to tourists who are looking for something other than the usual Top Ten. <br /></p><p>I pay attention to the books that are bestsellers, but with a long tail. I pay way more attention to TikTok books than I do to Publisher's Weekly. So the big book from a few weeks ago was, "House of Flame and Shadow," by Sarah Maas. This is the kind of genre book that will continue selling for me.<br /></p><p>Don't get me wrong. When the USA today does their 150 bestsellers of the week list, I'll usually have at least 80% of them. 10% of the uncarried books are books I don't want to carry; 10% are books that I'm waiting to making sure they aren't a blip and are going to be on the list for more than one week. </p><p>But what I try to do is identify books that sell and just keep on reordering them. Ordering them until they stop selling, by which time, I've usually identified another title that can take its place. </p><p>90% of my books every week are reorders of the backlist. I call them "the standards." Kurt Vonnegut will just keep selling. Tom Robbins, Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, Chuck Palahniuk, Murikami, and so on. </p><p>I'm good with this. I think it's not a bad thing to have standards instead of so-called bestsellers, which can be hit or miss. </p><p>And I think it makes the store more interesting and unique. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-11885142442080115012024-02-16T12:07:00.001-08:002024-02-16T12:11:40.448-08:00There are story ideas everywhere.<p> </p><p>Started a story yesterday, realized immediately that it wasn't good
enough. Made me wonder how many stories I've started over the years.
Hundreds, I'm pretty sure. Thousands? It's not that all of them didn't have
potential, it's that I was either in the mode of finishing things or in
the mode of not finishing things. </p><p>When I came back to writing a decade ago I had one rule: finish the stories, don't change anything until you're done. </p><p>So for eight years, that's what I did. Some of the stories worked out, some didn't. But most of them were finished.</p><p>The story I wrote yesterday made me think of how fertile my
imagination is; I'll never not have stories to tell, if I so choose. But
I'm waiting for the KILLER idea, and that means waiting a long time. I
sat on the "Werewolves + Donner Party" idea for years. I knew it was a
winner. But most of the other stories were more spontaneous. I don't
know that the spontaneous stories were any worse than the long
incubating ideas, but it always felt a little iffy, and most of them
didn't get the immediate "That's a cool idea!" response that Led to the
Slaughter got. </p><p>But I've decided that I should start a new story
every day; in fact, just waiting for inspiration for an hour or two
every day, writing the beginning, and then seeing if it has any legs.
The proof of concept will be the urge to keep writing. </p><p>Today's idea, which I just now came up with.<br /></p><p>Barbra
Streisand barely mentions singing in the first chapters of her book.
She wanted to be an actress. She spent her first few years in New York
auditioning for serious plays, trying to the get into the Actor's
Studio. At some point she's offered a job if she'll sing in it. The way
she depicts it is, "Yeah, I can sing a little." So her best friends say
to her, "Hey, we've known you the whole time you've been in New York and
you've never once mentioned singing. Sing something for us."</p><p>She
says "OK, but I'm going to turn my back on you because I'm embarrassed."
She sings a song she's been working on, and when she turns around, her
friends are crying. </p><p>Nice story. </p><p>So here's what really
happened: She went to one last audition where she is humiliated,
comments on her looks, and so on. She meets a well-dressed gentleman as
she leaves the stage and he says, "Listen, I can get you parts if you
can sing." </p><p>"I can sing a little."</p><p>"Oh, I can help you with that," the gentleman says, whipping out a contract. She read the paper, signs with a flourish."</p><p>"Go ahead," he says. "Sing something."</p><p>She starts out hesitantly, but her voice gains power and confidence and she is...well, the diva we all know and love (or hate.)</p><p>I know, I know...not a new idea. Completely Faustian. And writing it would be hard; I'm not musical myself. </p><p>But you see what I mean: there are story ideas everywhere. </p><p>Hey, I'm not saying they're all good ideas...<br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-30342503318834182422024-02-15T11:49:00.000-08:002024-02-15T11:49:24.300-08:00Back issues are up and running.<p>17 long boxes of fresh back issues; bagged, boarded, and priced.</p><p>This first batch are mostly DC and Marvel iconic characters, along with a lot of Star Wars. I have a base price, but didn't have the time to look up every comic online, so winged it as far as pricing goes. I may have gone way under what they actually sell for, or I may have gone slightly higher. I tried to underestimate instead of overestimating. (There is no authoritative price guide, really.)<br /></p><p>I didn't have time to separate the variant covers, so they're mixed in there with the regular covers. </p><p>It took a year to get these ready, mostly the bagging and the boarding. I mean, I took long breaks, but it is finally done.</p><p>I probably have about three times what I put out still to do. Most of the major titles have been done; Spider-man, X-Men, Thor, Wolverine, Batman, etc. (though I held back some for refills). </p><p>There are lots of good titles I didn't get to yet. For instance, complete runs of Hellboy and BPRD and other indie comics. Those are going to get out there soon, though I'm still trying to figure out how to fit them into the store. </p><p>Anyway, it feels and looks good and it should be fun for some of you to browse through them. </p><p>Thanks to all of you for 45 years of selling comics!</p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-78399993652947227402024-02-11T11:02:00.000-08:002024-02-11T11:05:12.224-08:00Barbra wow wow.. <p>I've been listening to Barbra Streisand's book, read by her. She's still got that heavy Brooklyn accent (though I suspect she's playing it up.)</p><p>Bottom line--I simply can't comprehend that level of ambition. </p><p>I don't usually read autobiographies because I don't think you can trust them. Early on, I read one by a famous entertainer that I subsequently learned was 90% bullshit. </p><p>So I'm listening to Streisand with a huge grain of salt. I'm trying to read between the lines, and trying to figure out what's genuine and what isn't. Funnily enough, the genuineness is at the forefront of her storytelling. </p><p>So I don't really buy her humility and down-homeness. She lays it on a little thick. </p><p>At the same time, she reads off comments about herself from friends and reviews that make her sound fantastic. Fair enough. She's proud of herself and she should be.</p><p>So at this point, I'm listening to hear the process of how you create a career like hers. I'm at the point in the book where she's 24 years old, the toast of the town, and about the film Funny Girl.</p><p>I'm exhausted just listening to her schedule. Like I said, the amount of effort it takes is almost incomprehensible. </p><p>She's constantly saying she's a loner, but the subtext is that she is surrounded by people all the time. </p><p>It's only the second audiobook I've ever listened to. I heard a snippet of the book read by her and it sounded like something I could listen to and not try to read. <br /></p><p>Ah, well. Only about 30 hours to go. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-23633244975194470492024-02-10T10:41:00.000-08:002024-02-10T10:41:42.222-08:00Restock back issue update #2.<p>I've finished organizing the boxes, but I want to do a little finessing, so I'm sticking to my February 15 Grand Unveiling. </p><p>My first choice was the put comics under their title but not try to order them by number. It isn't all that hard to search through a batch of comics, and there's always the chance that you'll find something you didn't expect.</p><p>Putting them in numerical order would add another week to the organizing (and would probably only last a couple of weeks before they were out of order again.)<br /></p><p>I'm also hoping Sabrina can find the time to go through them and see if I missed anything, overestimated or underestimated anything.</p><p>The other thing I wanted to mention is that I've been making sets of mini-series, and/or the first X number of issues in a series. We've done this in the past, but back then it was mostly comics leftovers. These, on the other hand, are premium comics that are complete within a collection, so qualitatively much nicer. </p><p>It's kind of the last slot in the store that needed to be fixed. I
honestly can't think of anything more to do. I'm sure there are things,
and they'll come to me, but for now the store feels as complete as the
time, space, and money can make it. <br /></p><p>It's been fun to have comics all around me again.</p><p>I guess I kind of missed that. </p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-13372543620841463402024-02-09T17:15:00.000-08:002024-02-09T17:23:56.334-08:00Me and Clean Gene and Tricky Dick.<p>Hard to believe I started this blog 18 years ago.</p><p>I was young(er) and naive and thought I could say anything I wanted and nothing would come of it. </p><p>Ah, the wisdom of age. It is better to keep my mouth shut and listen. </p><p>But, you know, kind of boring. </p><p>Speaking of young and naive. When I was 15 years old, my mother, Libby McGeary--a liberal, Unitarian, volunteer for good causes, fabulous gardener--decided to start a Eugene McCarthy "Get Clean for Gene" campaign office in Bend. </p><p>So me and some friends went door to door with buttons and stuff. I don't remember much about it, except for the old couple who greeted us at the door and invited us in. And then start attacking us.</p><p>An ambush!</p><p>I don't remember what we said, or how we got out of there, but I've always remembered the savagery I saw in their eyes. </p><p>The McCarthy people realized they had a shot in Oregon and came along and took over. I went to see Nixon's daughters at the Pine Tavern. They saw I had "L" and "R" inked on the plastic toes of my tennis shoes (on the wrong foot, of course) and they thought that was hilarious.</p><p>My friend Wes and I went to see Robert Kennedy at the Bend High auditorium, standing on our chairs and shouting for "McCarthy!" (me) and "Nixon" (Wes,...sorry, man.) But the Kennedy charisma was real and we (or I, at least) followed Kennedy out into the parking lot, shaking his hand more than once. </p><p>I was watching TV the night he was assassinated and woke up the parents. </p><p>Why does this all come to mind? Well, there's a guy in my neighborhood who has a flag up saying "Trump Won."</p><p>I'd love to knock on his door, acting innocent, and ask him to vote for Biden. I imagine him and his wife inviting me in, all friendly like, and then ambushing me. And I'd give it right back to them.</p><p>But it would probably end up in an old man fist fight, my glasses would be knocked off, and I'd get smacked in the back of the head with a frying pan. </p><p>Like I said, the wisdom of age. Shut up and listen. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-54691441576132005122024-02-09T11:50:00.000-08:002024-02-09T13:09:28.200-08:00World-building is harder than it looks.<p>Recently, I've gotten bogged down trying to read big fantasy books. I read one recently that was obviously trying to have a "Dune" like approach to world-building, and it didn't quite work. It didn't quite make sense, nor was it satisfying.</p><p>"Dune," to me, is the best SF book ever written. (No need to tell me you didn't like it--I get it.) All the parts fit, all the world-building makes sense. </p><p>The thing you find when you try to construct a world is that is very hard to do without contradictions. Or rather, with life-like contradictions. What "Lord of the Rings" and "Dune" have in common is that the worlds feel real. They are one-time triumphs, in a way. Tolkien couldn't top himself, and neither could Frank Herbert. </p><p>It also hard not to create a world that feels somehow simplistic. Even if you get the structure right, most of the time the fantasies I read feel shallow, Potemkin-village like constructions.</p><p>This didn't bother me too much when I was younger, but eventually the fantasies lost their appeal. Underneath the particulars, the generalities were pretty much the same. <br /></p><p>When I wrote "Star Axe," "Snowcastles/Icetowers," I was in thrall to Tolkien and R.E. Howard. I used them as a template.</p><p>Then the 25 year break from writing. In all of those 25 years I thought that if I ever wrote again, it would be fantasy. Instead, I had an idea of werewolves being part of the Donner Party and wrote that, had a very modest little success with it, found the horror community seemed to appreciate my writing, and off I went.</p><p>The one book where I tried to build an entire world completely fell apart. I rewrote it again and again trying to fix it, until it all became a jumble of words.</p><p>Truth is, I love telling stories--and I confess that I'm writing those stories to amuse myself. It's much easier to write a story if you already have the background in place, either the real world or a historical version of the real world. All the complexities and contradictions are built-in. No need to convince the reader of their reality. </p><p>I mostly read thrillers these days. Last night I read the new Thomas Perry thriller, "Hero," and it was great fun. I fell right into the story. It felt comfortably familiar, but with enough of the complexity of the real world to feel satisfying. </p><p>I'd love to write a big fantasy, but I'd need to build the world first, make sure that the story fits into the framework of the world, and not vice versa. </p><p>It's a hell of a challenge. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-6056341859314561222024-02-08T08:32:00.000-08:002024-02-08T08:32:25.103-08:00Back issue restock update.<p>It's happening faster than I thought. I believe we'll have everything up and running by Thursday, February 15th. </p><p>It's been a bit of a trip down memory lane. I spent years doing this kind of thing. At first because when I bought the store I had so little inventory or money that I had to try to scare up business by organizing as best I could, finding hidden gems, figuring out how best to display the product. </p><p>The first comic book show I went to, I bought every X-Men comic I could find.</p><p>The second or third comic book shows I went to, I found Swamp Thing and American Flagg and a bunch of other great comic books that forever changed my perception of comics. </p><p>I remember asking some other retailers how they were able to increase their back issues. Someone said, "Don't worry. You'll have more than you'll know what to do with before you know it."</p><p>Which, over time, proved true. </p><p>I sold the contents of the basement storage, some 40K issues, a few years ago to another retailer. I just didn't seem to have the time to go through them and try to organize them. </p><p>What's so interesting to me is that I've probably accumulated at least another 20K issues without even trying. But this time I looked at them and I didn't despair. I decided I could deal with them. </p><p>So what's going to be for sale?</p><p>So far, it looks like:</p><p>Two and a half long boxes Spider-man.</p><p>One and a half long boxes of Avengers.</p><p>Three long boxes of Batman. </p><p>Two long boxes of Ultimate and X-Men.</p><p>Two long boxes of Star Wars, one each of Dark Horse and Marvel. </p><p>The rest of the boxes are assorted titles, mostly DC and Marvel to start with. </p><p>We have plenty of replacement issues for Spider-man, Avengers, Batman, and Star Wars. </p><p>All bagged and boarded, in fresh clean white boxes, priced. </p><p>About the price. </p><p>I simply didn't have time to look up every comic. I set a base price for most of the comics, looked up a few obvious ones, went a little higher on first issues and variants. But most of it was guesswork and I undoubtedly missed a lot of "Key" issues. </p><p>But hey, that gives you all a better reason to hunt for hidden gems. </p><p>For example, I put together a set of the four "Edge of Spider-verse," comics and priced it for $20. Sabrina noticed and told me that it had the first appearance of Spider-Gwen, which was worth more like $400 dollars. It was only happenstance that she caught that.</p><p>I'd be very surprised if I didn't miss a bunch of other comics. I'm just not in the loop anymore. But that gives everyone a good reason to look through the boxes and IF we get the base price for most of them, we'll do fine. </p><p>I admit, it still hard for me to transition to the collecting side of things. <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-48180903716307610182024-02-07T11:13:00.000-08:002024-02-07T11:13:22.801-08:00Replacing and renewing our entire backstock of comics. <p>I spent about 20 years not buying collections.</p><p>Mostly because we are a reader store, not a collector store. In most cases, graphic novels served that need better than maintaining a backstock of comics. After the comic crash in the mid-90s, it seemed like almost all my customers were readers, and collecting was secondary. <br /></p><p>Secondly, because our space is limited. </p><p>Thirdly, and most importantly, I really started to become allergic to the process of buying collections. Most collectors
expected me to pay top dollar for their collections, but it required a
lot of time and space on our part to make the money back. So I just
stopped. Dead stop. It was the process of buying collections at an affordable price that stopped me.</p><p>Catering to readers first and collectors second worked for about twenty years, and then about eight years ago, collecting started being a thing again. I noticed that back issues were selling more often, and that my competitors were serving that need. Covid seemed to bring collecting to the forefront again. Not sure why. People with time and money on their hands? People having the time to remember when they used to collect?</p><p>For whatever reason, I saw that I needed to try to start catering to that market again as best I could. </p><p>About a year and a half ago, I bought two collections.</p><p>The first collection was a bunch of pulp magazines and books. I bought these to save them from being dumped, because the owners were discouraged by the number of rejections they'd gotten. If I didn't buy them, no one was.</p><p>Technically, these books are worth money. They are in beautiful condition, which is very rare for pulps from the 50s and 60s. But I don't have a customer base for these. Ideally, they should probably sold online. </p><p>So I'm sitting on these books, mostly, and enjoying the art and the vibe of them.</p><p>The second collection was a bit of an accident. A longtime customer announced on Facebook that he was going to sell his collection before moving to another house. The price he quoted was more than reasonable, and I immediately called him and offered to buy them all.</p><p>See, I don't mind buying collections. I just hate having to dicker for them.</p><p>For the last year and a half I've been bagging and boarding and pricing these comics. It's been a massive project.</p><p>The comics start from the late 80s up to the time I bought them. Full runs of Spider-man and Batman and Avengers and Wolverine and Ultimates and many, many others. Lots of variants and special covers. Good solid stuff. </p><p>Last week, I finally started organizing them. I'll be able to put out about 18 long boxes of new comics, replacing all the current backstock, which I'll take downstairs and reorganize. We have tons of comics left to deal with, but I'm putting out as much of the good stuff as I can.</p><p>It's kind of nostalgic, actually. I have a collector urge as much as anyone, I just got a little discouraged by the boom and bust cycle. This feels like the right thing to be doing. And the right time. </p><p>I'm posting this to put pressure on myself to get this done by the end
of February. Hopefully a little sooner than that. I'll keep you all up
to date. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-91008039240183889692024-01-25T10:43:00.000-08:002024-01-25T10:43:24.060-08:00AI is inevitable.<p>I spent years trying to convince people that Walmart was bad. I spent further years trying to convince people Amazon was bad. I tried moral suasion, I tried practical suasion, but in the end, none of it mattered. People will do what people do.</p><p>When I see how far and how fast AI has come, I'm already ready to throw in the towel. Oh, I'll personally resist...for awhile. </p><p>Truth is, I use Amazon. I would probably use Walmart if it wasn't such an yucky place to visit. </p><p>My store is designed to survive the actual existence of Walmart and Amazon, acknowledging their strengths, trying to find things that we can do that they can't. </p><p>I don't think moral suasion is going to work any better against AI that it did against the previous goliaths. It seems impossible to control. It's already escaped, it's out of our hands.</p><p>People will do what people will do. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-17320176712929349622024-01-24T20:22:00.000-08:002024-01-24T20:22:04.013-08:00Freezing rain, freezing business.<p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto">I
don't remember freezing rain as being a thing in Central Oregon. Ice
and snow, sure, but not rain. That was always a Portland thing. (I'm
more sympathetic to their plight--we used to make fun of those clueless
city folk.)</span></p><p><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x10flsy6 x1lliihq x1s928wv xhkezso x1gmr53x x1cpjm7i x1fgarty x1943h6x x4zkp8e x41vudc x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u x1yc453h" dir="auto"></span>At the same time, the foot traffic in downtown Bend has been to die for over the last few years. Something I never could have dreamed would happen 40 years ago, when Jerry (the Sole Shop) and I would sit on the sidewalk and play cribbage until a customer showed up. </p><p>We're an attraction to both locals and tourists. I'm aware of many Bendites saying they never shop downtown, which is a shame. The garage always has room and is a short walk from just about any shop in the area. I always respond with the Yogi Berra comment: "No one goes there anymore. It's too busy."</p><p>Anyway, over last couple of weeks we've seen the other side of that. It reminds me of February, 2019, when we saw a similar downturn in business. The snow, the ice, the cold, the slush, the puddles have kept people away. I have a feeling that a lot of tourists looked at the passes and the weather predictions and decided to stay home.</p><p>So it's been rather impactful.</p><p>If you base your business on tourism, then you have to accept that. </p><p>It's fine. I mean, the last three years have boomed, so having a couple of slow weeks isn't deadly. But it is also a reminder that this kind of weather can happen at any point past Halloween, and if it was to happen the week before Christmas would be a disaster. Another warning to be careful. </p><p>In the broader sense, it's a reminder of just how slow it is possible for business to get. String a few disasters in a row and it could be really hard. </p><p>As I've mentioned earlier, Pegasus Books no longer has to order the bulk of its product far in advance. We can respond to inventory as it happens. It was designed thus. Covid taught me that even a complete stop in business won't kill you as long as you don't have to pay for unwanted inventory and your overhead is low enough. </p><p>But it ain't fun. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-57769009401964118672024-01-14T11:02:00.000-08:002024-01-14T20:00:39.660-08:00The Snow! The Snow!<p>I'm going into the store today to finish up some work that had to be done anyway. 12:00 to 4:00. <br /></p><p>Once I get past the first residential block or two, it's main roads all the way into the downtown garage. </p><p>If no one comes in, fine. I kind of like kicking around the store on a snowy afternoon. But I'd also love it if you came in spend money. Heh. <br /></p><p>This month reminds me of Feb. 2019, which was way, way below average. I looked it up and my records say "SNOW!" printed in big block letters. </p><p>An act of God. Thank God it has never happened in December, which would cost tens of thousands of dollars in profits. I'm aware of the danger every year. </p><p>It's part of the cycle. </p><p>What's different nowadays is that the unlike the old days, when I ordered the bulk of my product months in advance, I now order most product on the week I need it. So I can easily adjust. My wholesale order for books this week, to replace all the books I sold as well as bring in new ones is only about 25% of normal. But the overhead is easily covered. </p><p>I don't think I fully realized how hard it was to sell product like comics and card games and sports cards. I had no control over cash flow; huge orders would arrive when I could least afford it, and small orders would arrive when I most needed it. </p><p>Gives me a nervous twitch to think of those days. </p><p>It took me decades to figure it out, but I finally did. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-14137533138666286812023-12-28T14:02:00.000-08:002023-12-28T14:02:05.479-08:00<p>Reviewing my writing before going forward. </p><p>What mistakes might I have made.</p><p>1.) Too many books, too fast.</p><p>2.) Too many genres and subjects.</p><p>3.) Not enough planning or outlining in advance,</p><p>4. Not writing a "serious" book. No trauma drama for me.</p><p>5.) Not writing enough short stories. <br /></p><p>But even if these are mistakes, they are what I would call career mistakes. That is, they could be considered mistakes if I was trying to make a paying career out of my writing.</p><p>The irony is, these are also exactly the terms of writing that I set out before starting. </p><p>Rule #1: Write the book without going backward, or without too much pre-planning. Let the book go where it goes. </p><p>The reason for Rule #1, was that in my previous career, I'd fallen into a pernicious writing cycle. I'd research and plan and then never write the book. I'd start a book, and then restart a book, then restart a books, then restart a book....</p><p>Rule #2: Write what I want, when I want. </p><p>For me, there were only two reasons to write:</p><p>A). For fun and personal fulfillment.</p><p>B.) For money and fame.</p><p>I realized ahead of time that the latter was very unlikely. Besides, I figured if I wrote for the reasons in the former, I'd have a better chance of reaching the latter.</p><p>Rule #3: Write for fun.</p><p>I have no interest in what I see in the literary field. I read to be entertained, and so I decided to write to be entertained. I'll let others write about trauma drama, I want my books to be an adventure.</p><p>In other words, what could be considered mistakes from a career aspect are the very reasons I was writing in the first place. I really can't see how I could have done it differently.</p><p>The last possible mistake was not writing short stories. But I can only now see this because I didn't even try until my last two efforts. Both were short stories, and both were immediately accepted by anthologies. </p><p>Live and learn. </p><p>So, if I'm just going to do what I was doing, then I have to figure I'm writing for fun and personal fulfillment. In that, I've already succeeded beyond anything I could have imagined. <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-68687864848720555152023-12-21T16:21:00.000-08:002023-12-21T16:22:42.880-08:00The English Wolf of Wall Street.<p>I wonder if anyone else has put these story parts together. I've picked it up by bits and pieces, and it's a fascinating case of six degrees of separation to me.</p><p>Bend used to be a company town: Brooks/Scanlon, the largest pine sawmill in the world. The town I grew up revolved around the mill. The population of the town was 13,000 compared to over 100,000 today. </p><p>I'd just returned to Bend after college in 1980. My understanding was that Brooks/Scanlon was sold to Diamond International, which was controlled by a British mogul named Sir James Goldsmith, who then proceeded to sell off parts of the company for the breakup profits; including the mill. </p><p>Thus, the end of the mill. </p><p>After a little research, I learned the Goldsmith had been buying up shares of Diamond, but had disagreed with Diamond buying the mill. However, Goldsmith was keen on the lumber land, so ended up buying out Diamond. </p><p>And thus, the end of the mill. <a href="https://www.sirjamesgoldsmith.com/businessman/investor/us-major-takeovers/">https://www.sirjamesgoldsmith.com/businessman/investor/us-major-takeovers/</a><br /></p><p>However it happened, it made me look up James Goldsmith, and it turns out he was the model for the British takeover mogul in the movie Wall Street, played by Terence Stamp, who was even worse than the character played by Michael Douglas ("Greed is good.")</p><p>What reminded me of this is the podcast "Behind the Bastards," (which interestingly, is done out of Portland, Oregon, I believe), which did an episode about the gambling tycoon in England, Lord Aspinall, who fleeced post-war aristocracy of much of their cash.</p><p>One of these guys was a Lord Lucan, who was part of the in-crowd at the Clermont Club, which was rife with men who were a little to the right of Attila the Hun. Brixet before Brixet. <br /></p><p>Lord Lucan was over his head in debts and about to lose custody of his children in a divorce. He tried murdering his wife, but killed the maid instead, and then disappeared.</p><p>There is a strong suspicion that his buds at the Clermont Club, including Sir James Goldsmith, knew what he was going to do and may have even helped him. </p><p>Fine fellows all. Little old Bend didn't stand a chance, though I'm pretty sure Brooks Scanlon was doomed anyway. <br /></p><p> <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-69207100309831204302023-12-20T11:35:00.000-08:002023-12-20T11:35:03.263-08:00"Cancel Christmas!"<p>Always have to remind myself that no one's cancelled Christmas. The Sheriff of Nottingham has been denied yet again. </p><p>Though every year, the customers show up later than the year before, they do eventually show up, thankfully. </p><p>Nevertheless, I always imagine Armageddon. Five days before Christmas and we're at war with China, three feet of snow on the ground, and a new plague keeping people holed up at home. Any or all or a million other scenarios. </p><p>But every year, Christmas comes, people get the urge, and we come out OK. </p><p>I used to scoff at the idea that Christmas represents half of the year's profits. Well, since we started carrying books, it hasn't been "half" but it's been a good solid third of our profits. </p><p>It's nerve-wracking, I tell you. <br /></p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-45572728347439670062023-12-15T11:55:00.000-08:002023-12-15T11:55:24.583-08:00The comics controversy.<p>So there's been a lot of talk in the comic industry about the dangers of the future. </p><p>It doesn't surprise me.</p><p>In 2017, our comic sales had declined two years in a row, after a decade long steady increase. What I noticed was the market seemed focused on speculation: variant covers, #1s, special editions. But Pegasus Books had decided after the crash in 1995 against encouraging any kind of speculation. We catered to readers. My saying was, "Readers stay, speculators eventually leave."</p><p>But that's where the market was going for the foreseeable future, and it put us in a bit of bind. Either we had to pivot to understanding the collectable market, are our sales would continue to decline.</p><p>It wasn't an impossible ask. I'd probably spent half my first 30 years on the job dealing with speculators. It's a very time-consuming, somewhat risky market to engage, but I really had no choice. It could be done, though it was always a gamble. <br /></p><p>"The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." John Maynard Keynes. </p><p>In other words, <span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">no one is bigger
than the market, and no matter how right you think you are about a
certain stock or trend, the market doesn't care ... (Charles Schwab.)</span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">So I conferred with Sabrina. If we were going to go after the speculators , she would be the point person. She really didn't want to do it. I'd just spent 15 years telling her how dangerous and harmful the speculators could be.</span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">"If we don't do this, we'll have to build the other parts of the store," I said. "Are you OK with that?"</span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">She said she was, so we pivoted even more toward books (a process we'd started years ago, but now we were getting serious about it. </span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">As I've described many times before, when we closed for two months during Covid, we took the opportunity to lay down new flooring and redesigned the layout of the store to focus on books. To my great surprise, this worked even better than I expected. People started tell me that I was a bookstore, and sales confirmed it. We went for 65% comics/graphic novels to 65% books/graphic novels. <br /></span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Ironically, comic sales also increased, but I think this was a Covid bump. </span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Over the last year, we've been slowly "reverting to normal." Our books sales are still very good, only down 2%, which is a real accomplishment because Manga has definitely declined. </span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Comics really aren't down for us in the numbers that other comic retailers are talking about, but I think this is because we'd already absorbed the hit. Sometimes you just have to take your lumps.</span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">The secret to survival is to try to pivot with the market. You Zig when the market Zigs, and Zag when the market Zags. If you do the opposite, you'll pay the price. </span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Obviously, you don't always get it right. But the more often you get it right, the healthier you are. </span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">The thing is, it's much less effective if you start to pivot after the market has already moved. You need to start the process before, and that's always a bit of a gamble itself. </span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">This is our third amazing fabulous year in sales. I'm expecting more "reverting to normal," but that's OK as long as our budget it aligned. We're so far above pre-Covid sales that we could get a lot of it back and still be a very prosperous business. </span></span></p><p><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">Nice to see at the end of a long career hawking comics. <br /></span></span></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-20818030360312759342023-12-05T11:26:00.000-08:002023-12-05T11:46:57.004-08:00Minus 1%,<p>Our book sales this year are down 1%. </p><p>I consider this a raging success. Covid brought in a wave of new customers, and it appears we've managed to keep them. Books now account for 70% of our overall sales, versus 60% last year. So books have kept our overall sales close. </p><p>This despite a rather noticeable drop in manga sales. During Covid I went out of my way to stock as much manga as I could, whereas I suspect that B & N and other stores just took in whatever manga came through the pipeline. I was extremely proactive during those two years tracking down and stocking the hot titles. </p><p>Now that the supply problems have cleared up, that competitive advantage has disappeared and manga sales are reverting to normal numbers.</p><p>If I include graphic novels overall, we are down 3.5% in sales. (Probably mostly manga.) It's become impossible to separate graphic novels from regular novels since we're pretty much ordering them from the same place. </p><p>I believe things are reverting back to normal. There was a boom during Covid because we were open while restaurants, theaters, and game play spaces were closed. That we can match Covid number despite overall competition increasing is actually pretty impressive. </p><p>To put this in perspective, we are selling 5 times more books then pre-Covid! Having to close for two months turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When we laid down new flooring it gave me a chance to reorient the store toward books, and it paid off. </p><p>I think surviving for forty years in downtown Bend comes down to making these kinds of adjustments to the economic conditions. I've been lucky that I've mostly guessed right about trends. <br /></p><p>Onward!<br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-84262192763188588842023-11-29T11:28:00.000-08:002023-11-29T11:28:58.569-08:00Risk reward in pre-ordering books. <p>I think Pegasus Books is in a unique situation. We really don't have people coming in seeking the latest bestseller. I see other bookstores getting large numbers of the big books and selling them right away. Whenever I see their "new releases" wall, it's full of books I don't carry even a single copy of. </p><p>Meanwhile, shunted off to one side in those stores is a shelf of slightly older books, and that's the shelf that looks like my store. </p><p>These are proven sellers. Almost all of them are books I've sold more than once. </p><p>I've always said, we order about 20% new releases and 80% backlist books, whereas most other stores seem to do the opposite. </p><p>What am I missing and how can I change it? Should I even try to change it?</p><p>I had a customer come in who'd been referred to us by Dudleys for a SF book. Sure enough, we had it in stock. </p><p>"I didn't think you were a bookstore," he said. </p><p>"Yeah, a lot of the locals just don't see us that way," I start to say.</p><p>"I've never been the Bend before," he says. "I saw your store walking by, but didn't think you'd have what I wanted."</p><p>"But all I have in the windows is books!" I say. </p><p>"Yeah, but it doesn't <i>feel </i>like a bookstore," he says. </p><p>Like I said, I don't know if there is anything I can do to change that perception, except by taking away from the 35% of the store that isn't books. I mean, I could do that, but I've learned over the years to never let go of viable product lines because someday you will probably need them. <br /></p><p>Games, toys, and cards are all viable parts of my business, but even more importantly, I can't deny the pop culture slant of our store. Yeah, you go into Dudleys expecting "literature." Now, I may have the exact same books, but that's not the impression I apparentlygive.</p><p>On the plus side of this, I'm not having to outlay a large part of my budget on hardcover books that may or may not sell. I know that almost all the books I'm ordering will sell. I'm so sure of it, that we forgo the option of returning unsold books in order to get a higher upfront profit margin.</p><p>The other advantage to this is that I can order books more or less on the day they are released. I can tailor my budget to what's happening that moment in my store.</p><p>The downside of this is when a new bestseller sells out in advance. This means those stores that ordered bestsellers weeks or months in advance will get them and I won't.</p><p>This is relatively rare, but is starting to happen more often. I believe that books like the "Fourth Wing" selling out for weeks is being done on purpose to drive up demand. <br /></p><p>Hey, guess what. I played that game for most of my career--sports cards, comics, games, toys: ordering in quantity in advance in order to make sure I have a supply. I still have to play that game with Pokemon and Magic (though this is fading), but I quit playing that game with everything else.</p><p>It's gambling, in hopes of a big payoff.</p><p>So when a competitor tells me they sold 80 copies of "Black Flame," (the sequel to the "Fourth Wing), while I can't seem to get a single copy from my wholesaler, I console myself with the knowledge that I'm not gambling on books but ordering proven titles in small enough quantities that I can turn a reasonable profit without a unreasonable risk. </p><p>If I'm going to sell large quantities of new bestsellers then I'll have to change the store and wait--or rather hope--that people will come around. </p><p>Ordering larger quantities in advance makes it very hard to control the cash flow. It's very hard to predict months in advance how well business will be on the day a product arrives. </p><p>Ordering this week's books this week make it all very easy to manage. So I may be missing some large sales, but the lack of risk is worth it. </p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-22237384144936644452023-11-07T12:46:00.001-08:002023-11-07T12:49:15.245-08:00It's the little things in traveling that wear you down.<p>We were mostly prepared for the big things on our trip to Australia. </p><p>The amazing scenery, the animals(!), the
architecture, the oceans, the vegetation (!), the people--they were all
great. I probably should be talking about those first, instead of the
small annoyances, but there you go...</p><p>Other big things: I fairly easily translated the distance and monetary differences. Since I used a credit card for everything, I never needed any cash. I suspect this is true everywhere in the world, now. (I tried to pay for everything--the trip was my idea.) </p><p>I found a dollar coin on the ground, (or rather, Wes did, and I grabbed it out of his hand.) So I have a souvenir. I was standing in a grocery store line and almost asked a lady if I could touch her plastic money, But then I realized how that would sound and shut my mouth in time. <br /></p><p>The time difference, we adjusted. I won't say easily, but it was unavoidable, so we dealt with it. The driving on the other side of the road, well...more on that later.</p><p>The planes and airports were an ordeal, but expected. <br /></p><p>The Australians were more reserved than I expected, but once approached, they were almost always nice and helpful. Weirdly, I felt like I was the extrovert, which is not my normal disposition. </p><p>I had to leave the US without my full tranquilizer prescription, but it proved not to be a problem. It appears that my agoraphobia is all but gone. I was immersed in crowds in the cities and airports and restaurants, and I could look around in total calm. I had one incident in a coffee shop where I felt the walls closing in and everyone staring, but I resorted to the "five senses" method of coping, and it worked! The tranquilizers are such a small dose, and I take them so seldom, that they are more a panacea than anything. I'll probably always have some with me, but they are there as backup nowadays. </p><p>Linda is a wonderful traveling companion. The only time there was strain is when we were lost, and even then, we learned to cope. We were with each other for every hour of every day, for thirty days, but she's funny, and supportive, and kind, and interesting. We had each other's backs. We seemed to cuddle a lot, which I think is something we should continue in our daily routine!<br /></p><p>GPS is a lifesaver, let me tell you. Even if it did constantly send us on unintended detours. We actually made it out of Sydney and down to Wes and Ev's place without GPS, but not having it the rest of the trip is unimaginable. </p><p>Wes and Ev were incredibly gracious and helpful. Took us to see the animals, especially the penguins. Really were the solid center of the whole trip. <br /></p><p>There were some through-lines from the US to Australia. Motels are mostly the same, except not having coffee in the lobbies. McDonald's were in every town (they call it Macca's) and I could grab my computer and get the wifi going. A bit of the routine, even if it is America at it's most colonizing mode. </p><p> </p><p>Anyway, back to the reason for this post: The stress of the trip came from the small things. I know there are exceptions to everything I say here; but these are what we struggled with:<br /></p><p>No ice for drinks. You bought ice with the drink or bought a big bag of it. They don't have the little stations in every store and gas station to fill a cup with ice and soda like the US has. <br /></p><p>Small portions (especially of coffee!), but maybe that was good thing. I'd just order two lattes, instead of one, and ask for extra sweetener. Couldn't find any of the creamer we like. Also, no powdered lemonade or kool-aid. Since I live on the stuff, this proved to be a big deal for me. Their lemonade is some kind of carbonated something. I hated it. (Hey, lemonade is water and lemon juice with sweetener, am I right?) I drank way more soda than usual because I didn't have my usual thermos of lemonade. <br /></p><p>Extra switches to get the lights going and having the wrong adapters and not enough computer cords. Stupidly, I didn't make my phone international, just Linda's, which was a HUGE mistake. <br /></p><p>A rental car that was clunky and hard to drive, despite our asking for a small sedan (more on that later...)</p><p>The price gouging at all the intersections between tourism and normality. I suspect this is true all over the world, not just Australia. In the US, too.</p><p>Narrow roads, confusing street patterns. This was somewhat compensated by the fact that, once you're out of the big cities, the traffic is sparse by US standards. Sydney was a trial by fire--had to get out without GPS and driving a strange car on the wrong side of the road.</p><p>Most of the little things people take for granted. For example, the listing of plane flights on the electronic bulletin board flashed by so fast and we were in such a hurry, that we couldn't get the info. Then, with a flash of "duh" I realized that they were listed by time. Once I knew that, it was easy. Constant small learnings can wear you out. </p><p>I handled the left handed driving for 30 days, until 15 minutes. Hurrying to the airport, I hit some barrier in the road and blew out a front tire. Some guys walking by came to our rescue and put on the spare (I would have gotten it done...in about three times the time.) Left a bad taste in my mouth. Damn</p><p>But we mostly handled it just fine. If we ever did it again, we'd know what to do. (Like that is ever going to happen.) <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-51981614695228753802023-10-29T02:02:00.006-07:002023-10-29T02:07:18.213-07:00We do things our way. Isn't it charming?<p>I've been thinking a lot about income equality on this trip, as on all trips. When you travel the disparity strikes you anew. </p><p>Here in Australia, it seems much more egalitarian; but traveling has also taught me that I'm only seeing the surface. Still, it I think I can see some similarities and some differences.</p><p>Today Linda and I visited the Newtown area of Sydney. It struck me as slightly seedy, slightly glamorous, probably mostly hipster. So the question was, when does this Funky atmosphere become gentrified? Along the way we met a young man who exclaimed "It isn't the same Newtown! You should have seen it ten years ago!" Which is the cry of every long time resident of a gentrified area. </p><p>The clerk at the bookstore told us that the majority of her business was tourists, which put a new light on the hordes of people on the sidewalks. Most of us were tourists. The bookstore was eloquently seedy, if that makes sense.<br /></p><p>It reminded me of downtown Bend. We're maybe a little further along in the gentrification process; much of the funky has already been replaced by the upscale, but there is still a little of that. </p><p>So tonight in the motel, I'm reading a book by Kim Stanley Robinson, "New York 2140," about a future drowned New York that nevertheless is still motivated by ruthless capitalism:</p><p><i>"...as with everything, the logistic curve rules; rate of profits drop as workers expect higher wages and benefits, and the local markets saturate... So at that point capital moves on...The people in the newly abandoned region are left to cope with their new rust belt status, abandoned as they are to fates ranging from touristic simulacrum to Chernobylic calm."</i></p><p>The words "<i>touristic simulacrum</i>" really leapt out at me. </p><p>I was in a small indie bookstore in Wagga Wagga a couple of days ago and the woman was basically trying to create a store like mine in a downtown that was struggling and I was trying to tell her that she needed to make her store different and authentic. </p><p>But, to be fair to her, that only works if you're in an area that has become a tourist attraction, such as the store we visited today...or to be completely honest...with my own store. </p><p>In a sense, it's a performance, something to attract the tourists. It's charming and authentic that we don't have a point of sale computer; it's curation that we pick our own books; the books are arranged in an eccentric manner; and so on. </p><p>In a sense, it's a "touristic simulacrum." <br /></p><p>That's not putting it down. It's an adaptation to circumstance, it's fulfills a real need. But it's only possible and necessary when the proper ingredients come together. </p><p>I was reading a review of a fancy New York restaurant in the NY Times and it struck me the same way. It wasn't really about the food, it was the performance, the act of doing it. </p><p>I think it has to be intuitive to those of us that do it. It has to be, in a real sense, authentic.</p><p>We do things our way. Isn't it charming? </p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-13176154357297890272023-10-27T10:50:00.003-07:002023-10-27T11:19:01.241-07:00Stupid travel tricks.<p>So I haven't done much traveling, especially in the latter half of my life. Been pretty much working behind the counter or home writing for my adult life.<br /></p><p>On a whim, I booked a trip to Australia. What inspired me is that my friends Wes and Ev are in residency for a couple of years, so we could stay with them for awhile. That was the one smart thing I did on the trip.<br /></p><p>I did very little planning, and boy does it show. I think I did this in about the most expensive way possible. So without further ado, what I've learned (which would be particularly helpful the next time I visit Australia--which will be never.)</p><p><br /></p><p>1.) When they say get there early for your flight, they really mean it; especially for international flights. Nearly missed our flight out of Hawaii. </p><p>2.) Book a round trip, stupid. Save some money. And while you're at it, collect some flyer miles. (Actually, we may have gotten lucky with getting away with booking a one way trip...)<br /></p><p>3.) Sign up for some hotel program or another that allows you to cash in bonus points for free stays. Comfort Inns are about Linda and my speed. In fairness to my own stupidity, it didn't occur to me that the program would be available in Australia until the last third of the trip. </p><p>4.) If you're going to rent a car for a long road trip, make sure it gets good gas mileage. Didn't even occur to me until we were well into our trip. </p><p>5.) Speaking of road trips. While they are fun, they are also exhausting, so it might be better to do more staying in one place for a longer period of time.</p><p>6.) So some of the touristy things. While I particularly loved visiting the small towns, driving down country roads, going for nature walks, I suspect I'll remember more the stuff Wes and Ev planned for us: a sanctuary visit to feed kangaroos, the March of the Penguins, going out to dinner with them. </p><p>We're going to be in Sydney for the last five days of the trip and I've decided to do the tourist thing: the Opera House, the aquarium, stuff like that. I hadn't intended to do that but we flew 8000 freaking miles to get here so get some of those memories. <br /></p><p>7.) Figure out the things you'll need that the country won't provide. (For us, it was electrical adapters; sharing is fine, but better for each person to have their own.) I've traveled this whole trip without cash, which maybe isn't the smartest thing to do. Need my coffee in the morning, in a certain way. Need my soda with ice (what the hell, Australia? What do you got against ice?) </p><p>8.) Most people don't care you're from another country, so unless they ask, don't make a big deal of it.</p><p>9.) Carry a small back pocket (or purse) notebook with essential info and a place to keep notes. Things will occur to you along the way that you'll want to remember. A phone is great, but having the backup of a notebook is very reassuring. </p><p>10.) Speaking of phones, don't get all cheap like Linda and I did and have only one phone hooked up for international service. Really stupid. </p><p>11.) The small differences are unavoidable and a constant pain in the ass. Just figure they are going to happen.</p><p>12.) GPS. Of course, but I hadn't realized how important it was.</p><p>13.) Don't bring your homework with you. You'll never get to it, so it's a waste of space. On the other hand, you'll read more than you expect (lack of TV?).<br /></p><p>14.) Pack light. No really. You can do laundry. </p><p>15.) More underwear, less pants. Only need one over-shirt (or sweater) but don't forget a light coat if you're headed for spring, winter, or fall. I could have gotten away with two pairs of jeans. Right number of shirts, about four. Light shoes will cover most everything, including hikes. <br /></p><p> <br /></p><p>I'm going to remember more things and will add them later, but there's a beginning list. <br /></p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-83967179989716030462023-10-22T17:31:00.001-07:002023-10-22T17:31:21.580-07:00Murdered by a book. <p>Ran out of reading material on the trip so grabbed a title I'd vaguely heard of: "The Thursday Murder Club," by Richard Osman.</p><p>It's about a retirement community group of crime solvers.</p><p>I don't recognize any of these old coots, even though I'm the same age as some of them. They're all endearingly quirky, but they seem like what a middle-aged man imagines old people to be like. Sure enough, the author is 52. He has a glimmer, maybe.</p><p>Then again, I've never felt like the rest of my age group, ever. The idea that people would choose a retirement community is amazing to me. I can't imagine. </p><p>I'm also a little tired of CUTE narrative voices.</p><p>Going to finish it, but next trip I'll bring more books. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-17345945104745098252023-10-21T16:16:00.000-07:002023-10-21T16:16:03.894-07:00Our house is still intact?<p>Just read a story about a woman who's house was demolished while she was on vacation...</p><p>The only reason we left our house, and more importantly, our cat Buddy Jasper, is because we had our two sons willing to occupy the place while we were gone.</p><p>We're a day away from Adelaide now. The weather has been rather nice for half the trip and rather horrid for the other half. Big rains and wind yesterday. </p><p>I'm realizing now that we didn't do much planning for this trip other than the broad outlines. Part of this was on purpose--I didn't want to tie us down too much. But what we're discovering is, a road trip is a road trip. It isn't landing one place and relaxing. Fortunately, we had our week with Wes and Ev, but the rest of time is mostly on the road.</p><p>Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the terrain; Australia seems to have so much more variety of trees and plants and birds and strange animals. The rolling and green hillsides are cool. </p><p>But the roads are narrow and hard to navigate, and being unfamiliar with the driving makes it hard to make impulse decisions to pull off the road. So we aren't do that as much as I thought we would. </p><p>Somebody said that Australia was like the US in the 1950s, and I can see that. I think it's the relatively fewer people. I keep noticing how the smaller towns seem kept up, and yesterday it occurred to me that we in the US gave up on a lot of small towns when we built the interstate system. </p><p>Here, their equivalent of an interstate is not so overwhelming, except outside the big cities. So the highway system is still viable for businesses, which in turn keeps the small towns going. </p><p>We keep taking wrong turns with our GPS, which has a tendency to tell us to turn right or left one intersection too soon. Then we go on long detours getting back to the main route. This has turned out to be a feature, not a bug. </p><p>I've enjoyed the country roads we've accidentally found ourselves on.</p><p><br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-529575095156315075.post-83981920980030312023-10-17T17:48:00.001-07:002023-10-17T17:48:44.012-07:00Halfway through our trip to Australia.<p>Halfway through our trip to Australia. Toby is taking over the catkeeping and housekeeping chores from Todd.</p><p>The last couple of days I've finally started feeling like myself. I was in a bit of fog there for the first week or so. </p><p>We traveled from Sydney down the east coast of New South Wales and on into Victoria. Lots of little towns along the way. It's hard to remember towns that have such unusual names. Sydney, (first night), Mascot (breakfast), Wollongong, Shellharbour (second night, visit to the mall), Gerringong (for picnic lunch in the park), Moruya (third night, breakfast), Eden (fourth night, first appearance of live kangaroos, echidna alongside the road, back up to Merimbula (fifth night), and then on to meet our friends, Wes and Ev Hare in Churchill, (about an hour and half from Melbourne.</p><p>Most all this trip was on Princes Highway, which at times was an "M" (the equivalent of interstate) but most of the time was a two-lane highway. </p><p>We took lots of side-trips down interesting roads, spent time at beaches (saw some whales far in the distance), time in "national" parks, which I believe is the equivalent of state parks, (lots of signs warning of fox poisoning). We'd stop in small towns along the way for meals. </p><p>We stop at every bookstore we see. Interesting to see the differences and similarities, the biggest of which hardcovers are rare. All the "new" books come out in trade paperback.<br /></p><p>As I said in an earlier post, these small towns seem to be kept up pretty well. One of the towns was not so much touristy and almost everyone was a resident, so was glad to absorb that. Can't remember the name of the town and it was too small to find on the maps. <br /></p><p>No one much impressed we're Americans. (I know, I know.) </p><p>Also, as I said earlier, it really is the small things that throw you. Things as little as finding how to open the gas cap, using the right terminology for things. Close, but not quite. The general outlines are the same, but of course eucalyptus trees have a different feel than pine. </p><p>Wes and Ev had us pretty much scheduled from the start. First day, we went to an animal sanctuary to feel and pet the kangaroos and koalas, see the Tasmanian devil and the dingoes, (no wombat). Then on to an airbnb on Philip Island. Spent two nights there, had dinner in the town, then on to the Penguins. Small little blue penguins ("Little Penguins" is actually their name.) They come ashore every night during breeding season, The March of the Penguins, so you can sit on a viewing platform only feet away (inches) as they come shore. On our night, there were 2500 of them. They ignore us big galoots, except the Chinese tourists who no matter how often they were warned or threatened with eviction, took flash pictures. I found myself pointing at the guy left of me, who was so fidgety trying to hide his picture taking that it was distracting. (It scares and blinds the penguins.)<br /></p><p>Then the walk back up to the parking lot with penguins squawking and making big noise along the way.</p><p>"They're having sex, aren't they," I said to a park ranger.</p><p>"If you hear their wings rustling, they are. But they are very quick and efficient."</p><p>"Oh, is that what you call it?"</p><p>Next day, we requested a rest day. (I've read three books on this trip so far, which I didn't expect. But as I said, we drop into bookstores everywhere we go.)<br /></p><p>Yesterday we drove on into Melbourne, to the Victoria Market, which is a famous (?) bazaar. Lots of very kitschy product and shady boothkeepers (at least, they felt that way to me.) We did buy some Australian opal ear rings and a necklace because it's our 40th anniversary in a few days, and opal is the gem for October. So we'll remember our trip. </p><p>Yesterday, Wes and I went for a walk in the wilds. This is what I've been looking forward to the whole trip. Saw a mob of kangaroos in the wild, walked up a hillside to see the 'primordial' forest. I thought I'd be doing more of that, but Linda arthritis is giving her trouble. She's offered to stay in the car while I troop around and I may take her up on that the second half of the trip.</p><p>Another rest day while Wes and Ev actually attend to the business they're here for.</p><p>Tomorrow it's back to Melbourne to visit a church friend of Linda's. </p><p>The second half of the trip is up the Gold Coast road to Adelaide, (which is spectacular by all accounts.) Then straight a few nights on the road to Canberra, then finally back to Sydney where we hope to meet our niece, Sophia, for a day or two. </p><p>Home by way of Hawaii again.</p><p>I'm glad we gave it a month. Hard to imagine heading back after a couple of weeks. <br /></p>Duncan McGearyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02857388833850939721noreply@blogger.com0