best minimum wage job a middle aged guy ever had

Big surprise -- having half your market in two stores isn't a good idea.

2012-01-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

A New York Times article on Barnes and Noble.

The publishers are scared to death that Barnes and Noble is going to follow Borders into going out of business, dragging book sales with them.

Because independent bookstores only account for 8% of the sales.

Well -- who's fault is that?

Did it ever occur to these morons that supporting Borders and Barnes and Noble instead of the independent bookstores was putting all their eggs in one basket?

It was inevitable and foreseeable.

And avoidable. Giving preferential treatment to the big box stores was going to kill the independents. This isn't in dispute. The publishers were sued and found guilty of doing exactly that. They still do, just in legal ways.

You CAN'T KILL YOUR BASE OF SUPPORT!

And your base, basically, are the small stores all throughout the U.S.A. This was true of sports cards, and it was true of the music industry, and it's true of book publishers.

Like the sport card manufacturers before them, and the album producers, the book publishers went full blast into the big box stores. They couldn't be bothered with the little guy.

I know what some of you are saying: The big box stores sold more, they had a better model, why should the manufacturers fight it?

I'm not saying they should have fought it. I'm saying they shouldn't have cooperated so thoroughly to it. Really, it was collusion. They saw big bucks in chain stores and they didn't put a moment's thought into slipping the knife into the small stores by making it difficult to compete. Whatever they told themselves, they gave better terms to the big boxes.

The big box mass market chains stores achieved their size and pricing because the manufacturers HELPED THEM DO IT!

I just get tired of the media leaving out this step.

The manufacturers were responsible for the market they got. They could have made more of a level playing field.

Even -- gasp -- giving preferential treatment to independents, if they had to give preferential treatment at all.

Bulk discounts (I'm sorry, selling 10,000 books to a hundred independents, or 10,000 to one bookstore, you STILL sell 10,000 books.)

Exclusives, early shipping, overships, expanded returns, longer payment terms, endcaps, cheaper prices, etc. etc.

They did it in a hundred ways, folks.

It's their own damn fault.

Or is it two steps forward, three steps back?

2012-01-30T10:24:00.000-08:00

I made myself a couple of checklists for my writing the second draft.

As I mentioned, I have three themes I want to pursue:

1.) HUMANS ARE STRANGE.
2.) WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE?
3.) THE WEIRD MENAGERIE.

For nuts and bolts writing, I made a second checklist.

1.) Is there a more original way to say it?
2.) Is there a telling detail you can add?
3.) Does it read professionally? Is it smooth and pleasing?
4.) Does it advance the story? Is there anything you can add for suspense?
5.) Sight, sound, color, touch, feel, all the senses.
6.) Are we emotionally connected to the narrator?

I planned to go through the chapters once. Then run through them again with the critiques from the writer's group. Then a third time with Checklist 1; and a fourth time with Checklist 2.

In reality, I ran through the chapters once with the checklists pretty much in mind, and then a second time with the writer's group critiques (which have turned out to be kind of skimpy -- the critique at the meetings can be anyway from 5 minutes to an hour, but there turn out to be only a few written comments and corrections.)

My test is -- if I picked this up in a bookstore, would it seem out of place?

I tell you what: I'm so glad right now that I actually had those books published back in the 80's, as well as got some real positive feedback on the unpublished manuscripts.

Cause if it wasn't for that, I'd be afraid I was making a fool of myself.

It is so intimidating. I've just put on my blinders, stuck a needle through my eye for a small lobotomy, and I'm finishing the damn book!

Drinking quit me.

2012-01-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

I decided after doing the first four chapters, to drink a little beer and look at the story with a skewed perspective.

This used to be very effective for me. Made me more casual in my writing, looser, a little more creative.

Last time I drank anything was way back on my other writing binge, when I went to Baker City in the first week of September. Back then, it didn't seem to help at all.

Neither did it this time. Got very little out of it, the changes I made I'm not even sure are that much better.

Meanwhile, went to bed and dreamed that I wrecked both of my cars while drinking. I feel like crap this morning.

I haven't quit drinking, drinking quit me.

The only time I'm going to do it anymore is during social engagements where alcohol is suitable; and in my life, that seems to be only during the rare McGeary family get-togethers.

My wife, who is a life-long teetotaler, is not crushed.

Three steps forward, two steps back?

2012-01-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

So here's what I'm doing.

I'm giving myself 12 straight days off from work to pound I'M ONLY HUMAN into a readable copy. This is the copy I'll put into manuscript form and print out and pass around for a few people to go critique.

The first two days, I spent just putting the chapters in the proper order. I started the process of cutting unnecessary chapters, or chunks of chapters. Title-ing and dating.

Started the real rewrite yesterday. Need to do at least 3 chapters per day, and I estimated between 2 and 3 hours per chapter.

Found out right away that some chapters are more finished than others. The first chapter needed hardly any work, the second chapter (which is a new insert) needed a lot more work, and so on.

I started around noon. When I finished, I looked up at the clock, it was 9:15 and I'd missed Downton Abby which was the only show I intended to watch on a usually busy Sunday viewing.

I got four chapters done.

I like them. I think they flow very well.

I did quite a bit of dumping of explanations. What I feel I need are thinner but stronger transitions. Anything that smacks of an "info dump" needs to be cut or integrated into the narrative or dialogue. Fantasy is hard, because you've got to explain so much more. But the more you explain by showing, putting it into scenes or in character's mouths, the better.

So, I think I was pretty ruthless. (It helps to have an intact first draft that I can always go back and check if I go too far.)

Meanwhile, I also fleshed out some of the actual scenes, gave them a bit more depth. This is where I tend to underwrite the first draft because I'm eager to follow the plot.

The first draft was probably close to 70,000 words, so it will be interesting to see if it gets bigger than that, especially since I've cut 3 and half chapters already.

Roll your own. Really?

2012-01-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

Something seemed hinky about the cigarette rolling business mentioned in the Bulletin.

You know, the "too good to be true" dictum?

I think it's the math.

The company promises that one can make a "300%" return.

The machine costs 34,000.00. Right off the bat, I have a question. Has this guy bought the business of a RYO Filling Station, or did he buy the machine? Does the "rent" refer only to the customer's use of the machine, or the business owner?

But assuming he bought the machine, and it's just a one time purchase, is this a good deal?

Let's make a couple of more assumptions.

Basically, the story says that he charges for material and time, at about 30.00 per eight minutes. For this, the customer gets 200 cigarettes. Now, if the article was right and people are paying 5.00 a pack in stores, then that's a savings of about 20.00. If you don't count the probably 15 minutes the whole thing is going to take to finish.

So assuming that the machine is running 30 minutes out of every hour, with the other thirty minutes being the preparation and selling part. (Actually, this is if he's busy. Not counting minutes where there are no customers....) Well, I'd love to be busy with a transaction 30 minutes out of every hour, on the hour. Instead of busy sometimes, not busy other times. But...hey, people got to smoke.

Anyway, I'm thinking 4 of these transactions an hour is an upper limit to how many times he can do this. (Of course, if they pre-roll them, they could get around this -- but that would be illegal....)

Which works out to 120.00 per hour. Assuming an 8 hour day, 6 days a week, that would bring in a lot of money. Let's say 5000.00 a week.

Now, assuming that he is paying 50% for cost of goods, he's making 2500.00 in profits. 130,000.00 per year.

So the company itself says you'll do three times the cost of the 34K, so that works out to 102K.

If you make it past the first year, it would seem like a bonanza.

So I googled RYO + Scam and learned the following.

First off, the company itself was served an injunction in 2010, and had to close down. The injunction hasn't been lifted, but is not being enforced. What that means, if I understand the legal issues here, is that any money accrued in the interim will be subject to full taxes if they are ruled against.

Since most of the money saving in this enterprise is by subverting the taxes -- they guys had better be saving up their profits to pay to eventual judgement to the government.

I'm doubting that the government is going to give up their taxes so easily.

Several states have banned these machines already.

Secondly: An already in-operation store mentioned that they sell 3000.00 worth a week in sales, which seems more reasonable. The 5000.00 I came up with assumed a high level of busyness. They also implied that they pay about 1/3rd in cost of goods. One of them mentioned a 3.50 royalty to the company on every cartoon of cigs.

Anyway, the sales are bit lower than I estimated, the costs a bit lower. Overall, they make about 20% less profit than I estimated. Still a pretty good 2K per week of gross profit. (Before business costs; rent, electric, insurance, labor, etc. etc.)

Third: The company itself says that it takes "10 to 20 minutes" to roll 200 cigarettes, not the 8 minutes in the story. In fact, they claim they can only roll 10 cigarettes per minute, tops. So that changes some of the assumptions above.

That means, if the machine is running every minute, they can complete 3 -- 200 count transactions an hour. Which means if they run every minute, they can sell 90.00 per hour.
Going back to my original assumption, that they are running half time if they are super busy, that works out to 45.00 an hour, of which 30.00 are profits.

This is looking less profitable all the time. Still possibly viable. 240.00 per day in gross profits, or 5700.00 a month. Still not bad, assuming low overhead.

These are the estimates of the actual producer of the machines. (They are trying to wiggle off the hook of being a "manufacturer", so apparently they scream they are slow to the regulators, and scream they are fast to potential customers. Assume something in the middle, and it still isn't looking as good.)

Fourth: The profits really come from cheaper pipe tobacco being used in the process. You can use legally taxed cigarette tobacco, but it's much more expensive. However, you apparently can go out right now and buy the same kind of pipe-tobacco cigarettes for under 10.00 a carton, already rolled. So you're actually paying more per cartoon, if that is the kind of tobacco you're using.

Fifth: There are discount cigarette retailers who sell a carton of branded cigs for closer to 45.00, than the full retail 60.00 a carton. (I don't know local costs -- I'm sure a smoker out there can tell us.)

So the savings, even on the pipe-tobacco cigs are now about 15.00 per cartoon, not the "half" that is advertised. This if for legal, brand-name, already rolled cigarettes that you can buy in 1 minute store transaction.

So. A good deal?

There seems to be a big risk that the machine will either be shut down legally, or become much more expensive (with taxes) to operate, as well as a danger that the operator will "owe" big bucks to the government. If he can make it past the first year, it might be O.K.

It seems to me, that even in the best-case scenario, the profits are less than advertised. You always have to assume that you'll be less busy than you think you will be.

But it might be enough to be part of a diversified tobacco shop. If I had one of these machines, I'd probably get all kinds of tobacco paraphernalia, maybe some food and drink, a gambling machine or two, whatever it took to keep the doors open.

I'd probably try to hold back a significant percent of my revenues from the machine for the eventual day of reckoning.

The Taxman Cometh!

P.S. Math isn't my strong suit, so if any of you can point out errors, let me know.)

getting ready to get started getting going on beginning

2012-01-29T10:07:00.000-08:00

It took me two days to get the manuscript ready for rewriting.

Organizing it, rearranging.

Numbering and adding titles.

Formatting.

So now I'm ready....I think.

I'm hoping to do about one chapter per day. It may be more, it may be less. I won't rush it, but will do it at whatever pace seems right. I've read almost all the chapters at writer's group, so I have hardcopies with critique and corrections to spark off of.

My intention is to finish a chapter, whatever chapter. Then the next day, read what I finished the day before and move on to the next. And so on. Hopefully, rereading a rewritten chapter before starting the next one will give me an approximation of how the reader approaches a new chapter.

I know this isn't very interesting to anyone, but so be it.

This is going to be what I'm doing for awhile.

Getting serious about finishing.

2012-01-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

I took a stab at putting my book, I'M ONLY HUMAN, into a second draft yesterday.

Changed it quite a bit. Put a 'floating' chapter in as the 2nd Chapter. Cut about half the original 2nd chapter and made it the 3rd chapter, and moved the 3rd chapter to the 11th chapter. Cut the 4th Chapter.

Cut quite a few duplicate explications. (Going to explain less, and hope the story shows it.)

Simplified some of the terminology.

The willingness to cut one's "precious" words is the hallmark of a serious writer, in my opinion. It means I'm getting serious about getting it into readable form, even if I have to cut out some really nice sentences, paragraphs and pages.

(At least four chapters can be used for the prequel, which I've already got in mind.)

Since it turns out to be flashback heavy (seems unavoidable for an eternal protagonist...) I've decided to title each chapter, and put in timestamps where necessary. (NEW YORK, 1845.)

I wrote a few simplified bridging scenes.

Anyway, got as far as the 11th chapter. Pushed the wrong button, and it disappeared!

Then spent two hours trying to find it again. (Yes, I tried everything -- dropbox, trash, everything. I even read the damn manual. ugh.)

Got really angry, then depressed. Almost any of the other chapters I could have reproduced. (I'm keeping the first draft intact in case this second version just doesn't work.)

Anyway, it was VERY UNSETTLING and pretty much destroyed any momentum I had. Went to bed unsettled and still feel unsettled this morning.

So, I'm going to try to reproduce the Chapter 11 today -- but not slave over it. Then move on to getting the rest of the book in the proper order.

THEN: I can get serious about revising the actual words.

As I mentioned: I feel like I've now fleshed out this world, ironed out the rules of engagement, created the characters. But I did this by writing the book. Now as I read the first draft, I can see where I was feeling my way into this fleshing out, and many of the explanations have been slightly changed or are unnecessary.

The rules should go into the background, to be abided by, but only hinted at.

I also sort of figured out the themes. Which I want to play up in the second draft.

Big signs over my desk.

Theme #1. HUMANS ARE STRANGE. As the main protagonist, Kobb, "becomes human" I want to highlight all the strange things about being human, make little remarks about human behavior.

Theme #2. WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE? So the main human emotion the protagonist learns is Love. So I want to show a Love story.

Theme #3. THE WEIRD MENAGERIE. It turns out, that Kobb is "The Protector" of creatures, great and small, in both his world and ours. Want to show these creatures, and how he has tried to save them.

I've included several scenes with historical characters who are famous writers. I want to do some research on these writers, and put some of their own words in their mouths and just try to make them believable. (As well as historical verisimilitude in the settings.)

At this point, it's very hard for me to get a sense of the flow of the book, and I'm doing it by instinct. This "feels" right here, this "feels" right there. I'm trying hard not to get to that point where I simply can't see the book anymore with fresh eyes. But this point is unavoidable, as far as I can tell, and I just have to have faith in my original vision.

Hey, if it doesn't work, it's been another learning experience, which I intend to apply toward the next effort.

Friday fuds.

2012-01-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

I always figured it was unlikely the state would do anything to drive away Facebook. But I suppose it had to be processed.

You win again, Facebook!

**********

Why doesn't the Deschutes Pub expansion seem an overreach, when I remember thinking that Merinda was?

Because it's a proven success, I suppose.

**********

Managed to insult a builder yesterday, without meaning to. What's next, bankers?

Bankers are people too.

I suppose you can't write anything without bleaching it to a pure bland without risking a little bit of misunderstanding.

So my snarky remark was: "They are the absolute LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH I'd ask for an honest opinion."

To which Builder Dude expresses mock disappointment in the comments. "Awww.....Shucks...."

Then I ask Builder Dude: "So....how's the building going?"

He answers: "Could be better....but it's been worse."

You know what? I believe him.

Queue one of my favorite sayings:

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day..." Ralph Waldo Emerson.

**********

Online reviews are bunk?

Who'd have thunk it?

Well, obviously, it's easily manipulated. And even when it's not, the strongest opinions -- fair or not -- will out.

I know my own experiences have been completely contradicted by what I read online -- both positive and negative.

So....bunk. Total, useless bunk.

This is one of those cases where the internet isn't going to be able to replace a journalistically independent reviewer. (Among other things.)

**********

Not an ounce of integrity.

2012-01-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

According to Yahoo Finance:

"Fewer Americans bought new homes in December. The decline made 2011 the worst year for new-home sales on records dating back nearly half a century."

So what do the "experts" conclude?

"Although this decline was unexpected, it does not change the story that housing has likely bottomed," said Jennifer H. Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Um, why? Because it's reached a new low? You just told us it was unexpected, so how can I not expect you to miss the next forecast too?

But this last statement floored me.

"A sustained rise in new home sales is imminent," he said. "Homebuilders say so too, and they should know."

"Homebuilders say so too, and they should know."

I'm speechless.

Tough patootie, artists!

2012-01-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

The comics world is ablaze with arguments over the future of independent comics. Much of the disagreement is over piracy.

But I think the problem is more fundamental than that.

There just isn't enough of a financial reward for almost all comic creators. There are exceptions, but even regularly published and well-known comic people are having a hard time surviving. Many of them are approaching or are already middle-aged, and without much net worth, without health insurance, and without much of a guarantee of a future that will provide.

I sort of believe this is true of almost all artistic fields. That the same thing could be said of musicians, painters, actors, and writers. I think we all get to about 30ish and have to decide if we are willing to risk our future on a very uncertain way of life.

I wish there was an answer.

I suspect that the internet is going to mean that there are going to be a few -- a very few -- financially successful artists, and a whole bunch of people doing it part-time for the love of it. This has always been true. But I think in the past there was a mid-list zone, where talented and diligent artists could at least make a living (and hope to move into the upper tier.) I think it's this middle that is being hollowed out.

And that it's the internet that's doing it. Piracy, to be sure. But just the access to so much material has flattened the pay rate for most everyone.

Anyway, if you are interested in the issue, and you have a strong stomach, I urge you to visit The Beat: The News Blog of Comic Culture, and read the over 100 comments that follow the essay. People can be pretty cold-hearted.

Just going about my business.

2012-01-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's best to just quietly go about your business, you know?

And a blog isn't quiet.

Then again, the crossover between customers and blog readers probably isn't huge.

No dark secret, just that I'm quietly curtailing much spending this month. Just letting what I've already ordered come in. My orders from several months ago were bigger than normal, so that seems to be bringing in a healthy supply of product.

Meanwhile, I'm sort of taking a step back from writing, as well.

I was stumped for awhile, and decided that it was better to wait until I was ready before I started again. Well, that seems to have worked. I've dreamed -- literally -- a couple of solutions, and I think I'm ready to get going.

So next week, without fanfare, I'm going to start in on the second draft. I'm doing a bit of Jedi-mind tricks on myself.

See, it's important to get all motivated and loud about starting a book, but ironically, to finish a book I need to take the opposite tack. A sort of a lessening of pressure, a "It's no big deal" sort of attitude. The closer I get to finishing, the more I have to quit thinking about it.

I have to sort of turn off all my critical thinking again, and just enjoy the process -- and feel my way toward a flow of words that seems right.

Tuesday tings.

2012-01-24T10:49:00.001-08:00

I need to start saving up some of these entries. I've been doing two or three a day, but then I have days like today where I can't find any blogger fodder in the paper or from the internet, and I don't have anything bugging me.

I'm sure I'll come up with something.

*************

Have a guy in the backyard cutting up the fallen tree. He asked if he could take the wood and use it, and I said By all Means!

Linda had wanted me to find someone to use the wood.

**********

Today seems to be Taking Care of Business day. All the little errand-y type things I've been saving up. Plus, I've got to do my monthly orders.

**********

Had lunch yesterday at some of Linda's church friends house in Crooked River. Walked to the Deschutes gorge, about 800 feet distance, through the sagebrush and juniper. My shoes are CAKED with mud, which no amount of banging against the floor will dislodge.

We have a joke. Most of Linda's church people only know me by reputation. Linda jokes that I'm the "Mythical Duncan."

So I think they're always surprised by how talkative I am. I bet they were assuming I was shy.

**********

My hair and beard cutting person has moved to Redmond and I've been debating whether it's worth driving all that way.

Thing is, I'm comfortable with her.

Why is it so hard to change hair cutters?

I'm starting to look like a mountain man, so I've made an appointment.

**********

I think this is the worst two weeks stretch I've seen affected by weather. Slop and wind are the two most customer-discouraging patterns. Snow...people get used to it. Cold...they bundle up. Rain...they run to the door. Heat...they walk to the door.

But slop on the ground and wet slush blowing in your face? No way.

**********

Small business cycles are both conservative -- and liberal.

2012-01-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

I'm using these terms loosely, but you'll see my point I hope.

When business is booming, it seems to me the smart thing to do is play it very conservatively. You grow only as fast as you can grow without taking on debt, without overspending, without stretching your cashflow.

Indeed, you take the money that's flowing in and you pay off your debts. You DON'T take more money home, but stay on an even keel. Instead you spend that money on infrastructure improvements, or an increase in inventory.

By playing it this way, you may not grow as fast, but you grow manageably.

When business is bad, you take home the same amount of money, and you continue to spend everything else on keeping up the inventory and day to day management of the store. You are going to take on more risk to keep the business up, in hopes of increasing market share, of locking in the reliability factor with the customers so that they know they can depend on you.

By taking on more risk, you probably are going to take on some debt as well, but if you have gone into the slowdown without debt, this level can be kept manageable. And if you hang in there, you can probably count on the eventual recovery in taking care of this debt.

As far as I can tell, just about everyone else does it the opposite.

They spend like drunken sailors when times are good, they grow fast, they take home lots of money, and take on lots of debt. New cars, new houses, new everything.

Then when business goes south, they cut drastically, and hold on. Except, by cutting drastically, they've probably cut their own throats. When business is bad, you need to be at your best.

I think that's why I've survived this long, because I seem to never do as well as other businesses when times are good -- but never as bad as other businesses when times are bad.

As far as I'm concerned, it's been a fair tradeoff.

Most small business owners experience only one or two complete cycles in their career. (If you last long enough, you'll experience at least one boom and bust.) I've been lucky (?) in that I've experienced maybe a dozen or so, manifested in "fads."

What I mean is, I've had 30 to 50% drops in sales over and over and over again. And eventually, I arrived at my contrarian approach to the business cycle that I mention above.

The last five years have been the best five years we have experienced in terms of profits.

Which is the result of not making as much money as everyone else during the boom years.

It's not easy being a liberal.

2012-01-23T11:04:00.001-08:00

It's not easy being a liberal.

There is an article at the Economist which asks: "The Hangover; America is Recovering from the Debt Bust Faster than European Countries. Why?"

If I'm summarizing this correctly, it seems to come down to a reduction of household debt. And that reduction is due mostly to foreclosures. Whereas in Europe, people are hanging onto their houses -- and their debt -- more often.

The liberal part of me says, Good for them! That's seems more humane.

The other part (dare I say conservative?) is aware that historically, economies which deal with household debt recover faster and eventually increases in productivity bring the economy back which is good for everyone.

The other part of the equation is, that the U.S. (the federal government, but not the state and local) has continued public spending, unlike the austerity measures in Europe. This is the liberal side of me, agreeing with Krugman that we need to spend money.

Again, historically, if the private debt is dealt with first, the public debt is taken care of by increases in productivity. This is a lot like my business, where cutting is not always the right thing to do in the face of a slowdown. Indeed, I think I'm still around because I've sometimes made the decision to increase spending at a time when everyone else is cutting back.

Finally -- such soul searching comes from my liberal side.

So, overall, I'm still a liberal, right?

The bad news is....the good news is...

2012-01-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

The number of e-readers in the hands of customers more or less doubled over Christmas.

(Because most of them were given as gifts.)

But about half the people who got Kindles haven't taken them out of the package.

I had my first urge to buy an e-book a couple of days ago. I don't have an e-reader, so it wasn't much of a temptation, but I had the fleeting inclination. It was a book mentioned in passing, that sounded really interesting but which I've already forgotten. This is always happening, of course, but I usually don't pay much attention. I find plenty of books to read.

Thing is, I know enough about the availability of books to know that I'd be unlikely to find that particular title anywhere locally, not even at Powell's. So that would seem to be the perfect book to look for online. Of course, maybe it wouldn't have been available there, either.

I'm still sticking to my assertion that people will continue to buy book books. Because people like to browse and touch and talk about books. I just don't believe it's a Zero Sum game. And there is some evidence that people who buy e-books also end up buying book books.

The independent bookstore would seem to be the place for that. (I think Barnes and Noble is doomed, however.)

You can find various surveys over on Shelf Awareness, of which I'm summarizing.

Amazingly, over half of the respondents say they won't buy an e-reader. This percentage is up over last year, which was up over the year before.

So they say.

A "killer app" could change that.

Interestingly, the percentage of people who say they want to buy their books from Indies is about 3 times the number of people who actually do buy their books from Indies. Their heart is in the right place, but when it comes right down to it, they buy from where they're at -- and they're closer to a computer and the mass market and big box stores.

This fits in with my overall impression of the comic market, the card market, and just about everything else I sell. If you ask people, they are very supportive. But the numbers don't add up.

So we just have to keep chipping away at that.

Sunday suds.

2012-01-22T11:55:00.000-08:00

Because of a skin condition, I have to take cortisone every day -- on my forehead, around my ears, and a bit around my nose.

Fortunately for me, a little over the counter medication every morning after a shower is effective.

(I've met people with the same condition who didn't get the same relief -- the red, itchy, scaly stuff some people get on their elbows and on their chests and on their face-- but for me it works.)

For the last two days, my eyes have been swollen and red. That worried me, because the condition gets really bad if I can't use the lotion.

I'd just started using a new tube of lotion. Sure enough, when I read the small print -- it is a very slightly different formula. Package looks the same in every way, except for one small banner.

Phew. Dodged another bullet.

**********

So are you lucky when bad things happen in a good way? Or unlucky that bad things happen at all?

**********

All those headline writers were just waiting for the moment they could pull out the "newtered" headlines....

**********

Robots are taking the place of Malheur Lake carp. Oh, wait. Did I read that headline wrong?

**********

I think I've got my sleep patterns back to normal. Forced myself to go to bed by 12:30, and then forcing myself to go back to sleep in the early morning. Seems to be working.

**********

Lost my wifi connection on my laptop at home, which is a little scary. I'll reboot and see what happens. It isn't the cable because my wife's computer works. Damn.

**********

Went to see Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, American version. It was well done, Linda really liked it, but it seemed kind of unnecessary to me. It did remind me of what I liked about the book, though, and that was the detailed nuts and bolts of the investigation.

Some of the reviews I've read find that part to be boring, but that's the part I liked. Almost all mysteries and thrillers skip those steps these days. The literary thrillers are all gray and inconclusive, and the non-literary thrillers just skip all that and go straight for the action.

Went to see Haywire the day before, and, yeah, I believe that dame could kick the crap out of most guys....

I do love to go to movies...

Came home and watched Star Trek, and marveled how good it was. I told this before -- that my Mom went to see the Star Trek, Return of the Whales, movie and came back and said; 'I liked it. It was like spending time with old friends."

You have to understand my Mom had a disdain for sci-fi (and had a hard time understanding my fascination with it.)

Anyway, that's how the new Star Trek movie felt -- spending time with old friends.

Looked it up: the next Star Trek is scheduled for May, 2013.

Oh, yeah. THAT's why I don't do that.

2012-01-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

We were up 20% in sales in December from the previous year.

But I also spent the whole season replacing inventory. I wanted to see what would happen if I was fully stocked all the way through the season.

Flash forward to the floods of this week, and a huge drop in customer visits and sales, and -- coincidentally, many of the bills coming due from the Christmas surge.

Ouch.

Weirdly, I've found that I have a much less stressed store if I order heavily in the slow months, and tail back in the busy months. The opposite of what makes sense on the surface. Sure, it probably keeps sales lower on the busy months, but that is counteracted by sales probably being a bit better in the slow months. Everything seems to be paid for much more smoothly. (Bills more often come due during the busy months, and slacken in the slow months.)

Thing is, I actually had results from the heavy inventory buying -- so the situation is temporary and can be adjusted for. But I could have ordered all that inventory, and the weather that we had this last week could have been the weather we had the week before Christmas. Not a pretty possibility.

There were also some long term objectives in keeping my inventory up through the Christmas season. I knew that I wouldn't have to order as much in the rest of winter, which has been more or less true. As soon as I get this bulge of bills out of the way, I'll have clear sailing for awhile.

I also wanted to keep my new higher discount level with DC, which I've probably locked into for at least the next six months, by which time I'll be in the summer season. So I've probably saved myself hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars -- eventually.

And finally, I had a one month chance to order DC product for an extra 5% and I took that opportunity for ordering extra copies of the best-selling graphic novels, so that will also rebound to the bottom line -- eventually.

So a little short term pain for some long term gain.

But I think I'm going back to the old way of doing things. It's much less risky and stressful --

Kick ass movies.

2012-01-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to find a tree crashed in our backyard. Missed the deck by inches. Phew.

**********

My custom is to watch Jon Stewart every night. Funny stuff. Almost always get a belly laugh or two. Is there anything more soul cleansing than a belly laugh? But I used to watch Stephen Colbert only once in awhile.

Now -- he's a never miss, and as funny as Stewart. We are lucky to have these two guys.

**********

The Mayor thing is just unnecessary and a distraction.

What are these guys thinking? We've got bigger problems.

**********

Linda always responds to heartwarming, or serious movies advertised on T.V. by saying, "I want to see that!"

So this morning, I say, "Let's go see Haywire," and she says, "Yeah, I really want to see that!"

It's a kickass movie, with a lady kickasser.

Thank goodness, when it comes to the crunch, she is always willing to see a thriller, comedy, blockbuster, horror, sci-fi, or cartoon with me.

Planning for temporary disasters.

2012-01-20T10:27:00.000-08:00

I was mentioning at Pegasus how these last four or five days have been hard on sales, and a guy said, "Yeah, they said something on the radio about how most businesses don't plan for these kinds of things."

Well, sure. But neither do most households.

Anyway, I think what happens is that we tend to plan for the average. But when things are better than average, we spend the money trying to keep that going. Instead of saving it for when things are worse than average.

Under-capitalized businesses will always have trouble with these unexpected events, because they spend every dime they have trying to get more product and or catching up on bills.

Many small businesses are under-capitalized because the business --is -- their backup plan. They can't find a (decent) job, or they have a great idea (they think) and they hope they can leverage up their business through hard work. So they go all in, throwing everything they have into the effort.

I know someone is going to pop up and say that an under-capitalized business needs to raise money, hold back on the cash. But if you actually are one of those businesses, you quickly realize that you pretty much have to throw every dime into the business -- all the time. If you're not trying to leverage growth, you're probably going to go backward.

There simply isn't enough margin to both save and build. Because here's the thing: What you're trying to do is leverage every dollar into two dollars. So every dollar you withhold is really a potential two dollars you didn't make, which is a potential four dollars which is a potential eight dollars.

I mean -- that's what it means to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You have to invest it in your future -- you're taking the risk to grow.

Of course, almost everyone makes mistakes (really, everyone makes mistakes) or gets caught short by some unforeseen event, and that's where businesses get into trouble with debt. The credit cards used to be fairly willing to loan money to struggling bootstrap businesses (don't actually know if that's true anymore.) So then, not only are you trying to build your business but you're trying to pay back debt.

I'm not saying that someone smarter than me can't build his business and save money at the same time, but I never found it possible.

If you are well capitalized, you might have an emergency fund -- and ironically, you'll probably need it less. Or you may have an opt-out where going backward for awhile isn't something you want to do. "Screw this not making money!" and you quit.

Some of us though are using different coin -- hard work, to be sure. A better idea, maybe. But also -- but mostly, well, the willingness to risk. You may not have much, but the fact that you'll risk it all may be the reason you are in business, and others aren't.

That same willingness to risk is going to go into the building of your business.

It wasn't until this last decade or so that I had enough credit and cash on hand to handle the temporary disasters -- and I remember thinking, the first time it happened --"Oh, this is how it feels to actually have emergency funds!"

Wow. It's a totally different feeling.

It's still Poverty with a View as far as I can see.

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

I was ready to tackle the "Growth is Expected in Central Oregon" article in the Bulletin. But there was nothing to tackle but air.

Other than Facebook creating more (temporary) jobs, not a lot substance. The forecast was so general and vague as to be pretty useless.

Let's see. To get more jobs, we need to be more "innovative." Which is pretty much saying that we could get more work done if we work harder.

Thanks. What are we paying you, again?

So nothing much there. I'll just fall back on my on internal guesstimates.

As I mentioned a few days ago, I don't expect my sales to get back to pre-crash numbers until 2016 or so. Which falls in line with the other article in the Bulletin, "Few Cities Have Regained Jobs...." which predicted it would be 2016-2018 before Bend regained the jobs it lost.

Is the economy improving?

Lots of articles to that effect. All over the place.

My own guess isn't that it's improving so much, as that people have settled in. The new baseline to work from.

Unless Europe goes south, and gauging from the falloff in news about that (and only gauging from the falloff in news about that) the danger seems to be slowly receding.

Still, plenty of warning articles as well.

Not that the media is a reliable gauge, but probably more reliable now than it was during the boom. There is definitely an optimism bias there. But at least there is a bit more skepticism these days.

Locally, I still know quite a few people who are struggling. I have a customer who works for a major employer around here whose entire office division was laid off -- and he thought the manufacturing part was not far behind. If so, it will be a major blow.

On one hand, this is the 'real' economy in Bend, and I think it's still struggling. But I can deal with that. It's just a one damn thing after another scenario which I'm completely accustomed to. What I was dealing with in the first decade of my business....well, hell, for most of the years I've been in business.

On the other hand, I'm actually more fearful of economic panics -- such as the collapse of Europe, or any other earth shaking event. Those can have more dramatic impacts on sales than the slow drip, drip, drip of a struggling local economy.

We had a nice Christmas, but I think that we're talking about tourists who are affluent enough to visit Central Oregon in the first place -- are probably affluent enough to actually shop, and since they are on vacation, will buy in shops instead of online. (This goes double for new residents who start new businesses -- that they can move here and open stores probably just shows they have the means to do so.)

Which is a real valuable attribute to Bend's tourist economy. (The Growth article also mentioned the "retirement" business as being a growth area.)

So, as usual, I fall back on tourism and retirement as being our main industry around here, which unfortunately means that we'll remain mostly "poverty with a view" for most of us.

I think that's O.K. as long as we understand and adapt to it.

Talkin' to my friend Noah....

2012-01-19T07:07:00.000-08:00

What shall I talk about today. Gee....anything happen lately?

**********

All the water we've been missing over the last 3 months got dumped in one day....

**********

I'm not afraid of snow. I am afraid of other drivers.

Especially the slow ones. I'm always afraid they're going to slam on their brakes in full on panic.

**********

Rain, baby, rain.

Melt this gunk away before it freezes.

**********

My ceiling at the store sprung a leak.

I caught it pretty fast. Stuck a bucket under it. I think only one toy container was damaged.

But it freaked me out. This is not a store where you want to spring leaks. Just a tiny bit of water can soak into cardboard and paper and it becomes a soggy mess.

I'm pretty sure we have a lake up there, probably all the water trapped by gunk. It didn't make me want to leave at 6:00 without being sure the flood was over.

But what am I going to do -- sleep here?

***********

First leak I've seen in 30 years.

Then again...it's been 30 years....

**********

I was surprised....a bunch of my comic customers came in to collect their shelves. That's the advantage of having periodicals for sale in the store. Regular regulars.

As opposed to counting on drop-in customers only.

**********

The roof guy came by pretty quickly, and he confirmed that the gunk had clogged the drains and dammed huge puddles of water.

**********

Dropped by the Bookmark and it also sprang a leak, as well as having a window that "failed."

I have to wonder if every old building in town sprang a leak.

***********

The "rain baby rain" part I wrote yesterday above?

Forget I said it.

I'll take a slow melt instead....

***********

Linda got up at 6:30 this morning and is headed for her store to see if the buckets under the leak overflowed. We were going to go back late, just before bed, but we just couldn't get up enough gumption.

So depending on how big the puddle was above her leak....

Hopefully, it's all right. Because at least the rain slowed down.

**********

Heh. All you industrious driveway shovelers.... my driveway is clear this morning.....

**********

Water related:

Pouring water into a volcano. On purpose.

Oh, oh.

I remember the last time I poured water on a hot griddle. Watch out!

Probably will crack the earth, and we'll be staring over the abyss, what? At least Central Oregon will be on the cutting edge, for once.

When Bend was Bend.

2012-01-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

When I went to bed, I was all ready to accuse the media of being alarmist about the snow -- we had maybe half to an inch on our porch.

Then....this morning. 4 or 5 inches, which is considerable.

Still, I do think the media tends to play it up, versus my youth, when they tended to play it down.
Then again, that could be a false memory. Old Bend versus New Bend. A time when I walked to school with snow up to my knees.... When men were men, and Bend was Bend, and winter was winter.

Or maybe I'm just remembering my school age self hoping that a little snow would cancel schools.

***********

Yesterday was horribly slow at the store -- so what can I expect today?

A day of going around rearranging and cleaning things, I think. Maybe I'll do my orders.

I'm so thankful I have the resources to handle these sudden drops, unlike the Dark Years when I would have had to scramble.

**********

I got back the nice print of Star Axe, beautifully framed.

I switched pictures at the store, and took the original painting home.

**********

Video game sales were down 8% last year.

I'm no expert -- I have nothing against them, but I decided that trying to keep up with one more media, my head would explode. (New books -- I'm already inclined that way, and Board Games -- I probably fall down a little there....)

Anyway, even so -- I can guess that this has to do more with "Hot" games and "New" platforms than it does with actual interest in games. One web site mentioned boardgames as competition, but I think that's ludicrous. I'm pretty sure boardgames could double, and they'd only move the video game meter a smidgen.

**********

Hey, I just realized I could take my first day off blogging in five years and say it was a Blackout in support of anti-SOPA efforts.

Nah.

**********

I read this week's Sunday New York Times, instead of putting it on the pile. Just try to keep up from here, instead of trying to catch up.

**********

How not to get my business.

I go to a certain website to order books. They have new listings every day. So I add to my order each day, through the month until my credit card turns. This way, I don't miss anything and I can get to my 'minimum' order.

So....books sell out, during the process, which is the chance I take. I understand that.

Anyway, I got to the minimum two days before the turn, and then -- bam! It went up about a third. So I checked, and they had raised the minimum order on about 25 books from one to two.

When I eliminated those books, I was all the way down to 2/3rds the minimum again.

I go back the next day, and suddenly I'm at half the minimum.

I deleted the order.

Thing is, this site had been borderline in satisfaction for some time. (Don't like the condition of some of them.) And I've been needing to cut orders slightly.

So they made it an easy decision. I'm probably done with them, for the time being. Maybe I'll cherry pick in about six months.

Just write the damn book.

2012-01-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

This week was supposed to be my big start to the 2nd draft, but I kind of froze. I started letting outside considerations enter my thinking.

Will people like this?

Am I prepared for people not liking this?

Is this a manuscript that I would send off to a publisher?

And so on.

In the end, none of those questions are pertinent. I'm writing the book I'm writing. I'm not sending it off to a publisher.

So I just need to write through the doubts and finish the book.

Reading as Escapism

2012-01-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

I read for the fun of it.

What's fun for me are well-written genre books. With the occasional seasoning of non-fiction.

I've been keeping up a list of the books I've read since 1982 in a blank notebook, which is nearly full. It was really useful in that first decade or so; I could refer to it whenever I was in doubt. Over the last decade, not so much. I have to go through pages and pages, and even with the publishing date, it's a bit of a pain trying to figure out if I've read something. So I read mostly newer books.

My lowest total was in 1991. 20 books read. That was just before the big sports card crash. I had four stores, and I was very, very busy.

My highest total was in 1998: 85 books read.

I seem mostly to read between 40 and 60 books a year.

Last year, I read 60.

Anyway, something that becomes very noticeable is that I actually read much more in the stressful years. When business was bad, or declining.

My worst years, as far as stress and debt and just hanging on were concerned, were between 1992 and 2001; I averaged 65 books a year.

My busy years, 1984-1991 and 2002 and 2009, I averaged 36 books a year.

What's clear, is I bury my head in books when I'm stressed out.

Not to mention the decade that I suffered depression. I'm pretty sure that I was reading well over 100 books a year back then. There was one year where I remember reading a book every day or two.

It was all I could do.

And thank god for that....books probably saved me.

I'm smarter than the Fed.

2012-01-17T10:30:00.000-08:00

Apparently. That's not saying much.

Read the New York Times article: "Fed was Slow to Connect Dots on Housing Crisis" ... and weep. Turns out the Fed was even more clueless about the Housing Bubble than we thought at the time. These transcripts have become available after 5 years, so ignore everything they said they were thinking and read what they were really thinking.

Over the course of the housing bubble, I spent most of my profits on inventory and or paying down the debt. I knew that there was going to be an implosion, I knew that that implosion was going to impact the economy.

All I needed to do was look at my regular subscription comic customers and count up how many of them were employed in some aspect of the housing business to know it was trouble.

When Bear Stearns ran into trouble, I immediately pulled back on my expansion plans. I immediately assumed that the anticipated recession would soon start. (It actually pretty much began that month for me.)

According the N.Y.T.'s article, the Fed didn't think the Housing Bubble would affect the overall economy. In fact, they thought it would be GOOD for us.

If you really want to be frightened by our future, just read all the comments by Tim Geithner, (who seems to me to be Obama's Donald Rumsfeld -- a complete incompetent who keeps getting promoted.)

In fact, I'll go ahead and reproduce those comments in all their horrid glory:

"We think the fundamentals of the expansion going forward still look good." December, 2006. Timothy Geithner, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"We just don't see troubling signs yet of collateral damage, and we are not expecting much." September, 2007.

About Alan Greenspan: "I'd like the record to show that I think you're pretty terrific, too. And thinking in terms of probabilities, I think the risk that we decide in the future that you're even better than we think is higher than the alternative."

What a mouthful of obsequious gibberish!

Our Treasury Secretary, ladies and gentlemen!

Now....don't you feel secure, just all warm and fuzzy, in our Greenspan granted, Geithner graced future?

2011 Pegasus Books results.

2012-01-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

We ended the year at 5% over 2010.

Overall.

However, we were 10% down in the first half of the year and up 16.5% in the second half.
Six months of better than last year sales, July through December.

I'm not going to feel the recession is over until we not only beat last year, but we beat a positive month from last year. So far, every time we've seen an increase, it was over a decreased month. So, if I can string 10 out of 12 months where we not only beat last year, but we beat months where we beat the year before that -- then I'll believe we're on the upswing.

The biggest increase was card game sales. 53%. My two competitors both took a bite out of my sales in the last 3 or 4 years, but we seemed to regain some ground last year. I just tried to be steady and have the product available at all times. Plus, Magic just seems to be having a resurgence.

Games (boardgames and rpg's) were up 7% for the year, but the second half was pretty big.
Same with new books -- they were up 10%, with the emphasis on the second half of the year.

Toys were down, 16%.

Comics were down 6.5%. The New 52 kept it from being worse that. I was able to restock or newly stock a ton of graphic novels which should hold us in good stead. I'm going to save several hundred dollars a month in a better discount rate -- and that on top of saving several hundred on shipping costs. Add in, constantly jumping on any "sales" and I think this category will be stronger this year. (Comics and graphic novels.)

Graphic novels were up 2%. Some of this is bleeding into the New Book category, I believe. It still feels vibrant.

Sports cards and anime aren't significant movers in the store, anymore. I actually rededicated myself to restocking them this year, so I haven't given up.

Toys -- that's where my big push is going to be this year. Can't sell what you don't order, and over the last few years I was ordering pretty slim numbers of new toys -- except when they went on sale. So I've decided to get at least a couple of series of new toys every month and see what happens.

We matched 2009 sales in 2011.

So my goal would be to match 2008 sales in 2012. A 10% increase, which is a lot.

And then, the biggest year on record -- 2007 sales in 2013 or 2014.

Then we'd be back to square one....Mr. Greenspan.

Sunday T.V. is the Bee's Knee's.

2012-01-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

I've stuck with Hell On Wheels, mostly cause I really like the whole western thing. I spent my youth watching just about every western on T.V. (Except ironically Gunsmoke and Bonanza -- my Dad was a reverse snob.)

I still think it's the most lackadaisical work crew in the history of labor.

They seem to have a real problem with trying to keep the characters workin' on the railroad, and yet having dramatic things happen to them.

Bohanon running from the law, the Swede being tarred and feathered. How they coming back?
Whatever they do, it's going to seem a little unlikely.

**********

Am still loving the Good Wife. Kalinda -- everyone falls for Kalinda. (Boys and girls. This show has more girl/girl longing looks than I've ever seen.)

I had just read an article on Bitcoins, so at least I knew what they were talking about.

**********

I watched The Firm, and you could tell they were trying for Good Wife vibe, but it didn't happen. They fell back too much on the old cliches. Won't be watching.

**********

Downton Abbey is still totally addictive.

**********

Most of my other shows seem to still be in the never/never land between re-runs, co-opting, and new shows. Which is really irritating.

Buy the stuff that sells, sell the stuff they buy.

2012-01-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

So let's say you have a store full of stuff and it isn't selling.

What do you do?

Here's the kind of advice I imagine you would get if you threw that question out to world.

1.) Lower prices to sell more. Have a "Sale!"
2.) Advertise more. Let people know what you have.
3.) Promote more. Instead of spending money on ads, do it with events and other efforts.
4.) Provide more free service. Give them more for their money, expand your "Open" hours, give the customer free events and services.
5.) Move to a better location, a bigger location.

And so on.

In my opinion, all the above are wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

If you have a store full of stuff that isn't selling, fill it with stuff that WILL sell. Stuff that people are willing to pay full price for. That will bring them in during normal hours. And that --if you carry it-- knowledge will be spread by word of mouth.

You don't have to get rid of what you have, but search for the product that will sell. I can almost guarantee you, there is something just around the corner, something tangential but not opposed to what you already sell, that might do better. Or-- if 3 product lines aren't enough-- add a 4th. And so on.

The problem probably isn't your service, or your prices, or any of the other things experts will tell you.

The problem is that you don't have product that people want enough to buy.

O.K. I know I've simplified it somewhat, but I'll stand by it. Do the math. If you need to sell to 1000 people, but what you sell only sells to 1%, and you have 90,000 population base, you will fail.

You need to have a product that sells to enough people that you can sell it. If you don't, then carry a diverse group of product that WILL sell to enough people.

I'm not saying it's easy, but having the right product is the best solution.

First the store, then the promotion.

2012-01-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

I can see that I need to explain myself better on my assertion that "promotions" cannot save your business over the long run.

If you don't mind, I'm going to use the 80/20 rule for illustrative purposes.

I will make a bold statement -- that 80% of the customers who walk in your door have not been affected by your promotional efforts. Seriously. They've never heard your ad, they don't care that you had an author signing last week, they missed that newspaper article on you.

No, they are there because they are regulars, semi-regulars, browsers, tourists, whatever.

They look around your store and if you have something they want at a decent price they buy. Or not.

I'll take that even further. Of the 20% of the customers who walk in your door who HAVE been affected by your promotional efforts, 80% of them won't buy anything because of those efforts.

So what is that? 20% of 20% is about 4% of your sales.

Not insignificant, I suppose. You have to weigh the time, energy, money, space, and all the other elements that go into a promotion to decide if it's worth pursuing. If so, then go ahead by all means. As long as you know the payoff.

O.K. The 20/80 rule is convenient. So say you go crazy with promotions, and a full 30% of your customers are affected by your promotional efforts, and a full 30% of them will buy something. So 30% of 30% brings it up to 9% of your sales. Again, you've been promoting like crazy ("6000 author signings!) so you have to weigh the costs versus the results.

In my case, I'd say that less than 10% have ever heard any promotional efforts on my part, and almost none of them will buy just because they read a story in the Bulletin or read my blog or whatever.

This is NOT the impression you get reading stories about retail. You'd think that promotional efforts are the most important part of being in business. Image is everything, according to this way of thinking.

But I think it's putting the cart before the horse. It's the equivalent of the Dress for Success. Or driving a fancy car to prove to your clients how successful you are.

I think true successes get there by being efficient and hardworking and honest and experienced and -- on and on.

Otherwise, you're just an empty suit. A nice empty suit, in a nice, debt-ridden car.

It seems to me that most of the stories about business I read are about "image". Almost all the business blogs I see are about "image": how to market yourself online, or with advertising and all that.

And I'm saying it just way too overblown. To the effect that it attracts people who buy that entire message and they are simply unprepared to run a real business. They want to have a successful image without putting in the fundamentals to make it a successful business. And they think they get there by promoting, burnishing their image, joining the clubs, dressing nice --whatever.

Again, most of my customers have never read my blog, or seen an article in paper. I've spent thousands of dollars on advertising before, and had a 1% hit rate when I ask people in the door. I've had months, even years, of a fad driven clientele -- way beyond my normal numbers of customers -- who then disappeared when the fad was over.

So promote your store by all means. Just don't mistake that for success.

Sunday suds.

2012-01-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

We put Panga, our cat, on a bit of diet.

The other night, she tried to jump onto my lap and she didn't make it. She seemed really embarrassed by it -- I mean, she acted like it was no big deal but you could see it was. She is 16 pounds currently, and has been as high as 18 pounds.

We're giving her a tiny third of a small can of wet food in the morning, a quarter cup of dry food around dinner, and then about half a cup of dry food before bed.

Doesn't seem like much, does it?

But we really weren't feeding her much more than that, anyway...

If this doesn't work, I'm going to see if I can't get Linda to agree to leave her in our enclosed backyard during the day while we are at work. See if she can't shiver away a few pounds.

**********

Had a young guy come in yesterday and introduce himself and tell me he's been looking "everywhere" for Icetowers. For "years."

Icetowers is the sequel and conclusion to Snowcastles, and my guess is that it never got as wide a distribution as Star Axe or Snowcastles.

Anyway, I did my usual, "Probably have to buy it off the internet" but I could see he was living close to street level, so that wasn't helpful.

Here's the thing. He seemed to be genuinely enthusiastic about Snowcastles -- I mean, you can tell when someone really, really likes something and he did. He went on about it, why it was good and all.

So I gave him my store copy of Icetowers (my visual proof that I actually wrote it.)

This has happened a half a dozen times over the years -- people I don't know seeming to really like one of my books, and it is obviously most gratifying.

**********

I'm stuck on my book. I thought I might have had an elegant solution yesterday, but after sleeping on it, I decided that probably wouldn't work.

I think I'm just going to have to do some heavy rewriting, despite all my efforts to avoid such a thing.

But first, I have to figure out the organization of the rewrite, and that's something I just want to be sure about for I start.

So I'm sort of in limbo.

Once I start the second draft, it probably won't take all that long. Then ... depending on how it comes out, a third draft?

Oh, why did I start this?!

**********

I think a lot of us bubble busters thought there might be a surge in property crimes when the Great Recession started.

Instead, there seems to be arson fires just about every day.

What's going on? Is this just Bend, or is it some kind of recession pathology?

**********

My sleep patterns are still off. Not getting to sleep before 2:00 or later, and waking up at least an hour late, and still feeling groggy. Makes it harder to get my blog out in the morning.

With the daylight savings shift jumping an hour forward, this is only going to get worse.

Ah, well. This too shall pass.

**********

Arguing against the obvious.

2012-01-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

Having book signings and events is good for business. Obvious, right?

Not to me.

A couple of recent articles caught my attention.

The first deals with the storied Kepler Books in Menlo Park, California, which was saved back in 2005 by a consortium of book-loving investors. The owner is retiring, and they are talking about making it a non-profit bookstore. (I've made my opinion about that kind of thing known -- get out of the way and let someone make a living!)

Anyway, this statement caught my attention:

"In the past seven years Kepler estimated that the store has sold two million books, held 3,000 author events, collected $3 million in sales tax and donated $200,000 to schools and nonprofits. Still, it is barely breaking even."

3000 author events = barely breaking even.

No correlation, you say? Maybe it would be worse without the events?

Maybe, but I browse books sites every day, and there is funny common characteristic to bookstores that go out of business -- many of them hosted multiple author events. (That, and they sell online -- another supposed savior of bookstores.) They all act surprised that it didn't work.

The second statement comes out of an article that is actually addressing the problem of Amazon versus independent bookstores. It's written by a publisher (strange how that keeps happening, too. The publishers and authors and customers and just about everyone else things it's a grand idea!) "Independent Bookstores: How to compete with Amazon." Huffington Post.

He uses as an example, a bookstore in Boston, which he says he got started down the path toward 'events.'

Two statements, actually. First:

"Perhaps only 10 or 15 of those 40 people actually bought books that night, but since then more and more poetry readings have been booked there..."

Notice how the second half of that sentence more or less assumes that results were better with more events. But the ONE event he mentions, let's average out his number of books sold (I'm betting he was being a bit on the high side, but...) to 12.5 books.

Average profit on a hardcover 12.5 books -- maybe 125.00. ($25.00 book times 12.5 times 40% markup.)

Whoo hoo! $125.00! Sorry I missed dinner, honey, but I just made 125.00!

(You might have done just as well by staying open the same extra hours. Eventually, unless you want to burn out, you have to have set hours --- which allow you to go home and have dinner with the family and go to a movie or whatever...)

Thing is -- every time I see ACTUAL numbers, they aren't impressive. (I've also held two events myself, and I sold almost nothing -- literally. A couple of comics, a single graphic novel....something like that.)

So that 125.00! Now subtract expanded time and space and employee hours, plus sales the store didn't make because everyone is listening to the author, plus probably refreshments (at least for the author) and whatever other costs it incurs.

The second statement is more in the way of, damning with faint praise:

"...since the push to have more events, their overall sales have improved too." This comes from the owner, who in the article is mentioned to have since jumped ship and moved to New York.

I'm sorry, "overall sales have improved too" is pretty vague. One or two books a day, ten more books a day? I'm guessing that if the sales had improved "dramatically" they would have used words to that effect.

Here again, I've actually talked to several bookstore owners who do events, and they are usually anything but enthused about actual events. They usually mutter that the events are a big huge hassle without much results.

So it comes down to -- events will bring in future customers...

Where have I heard that before?

Oh, yeah. Downtown street closures. Yet, I have about 30 years experience with downtown street closures and I simply don't buy the "future" customer argument.

It's obvious, sure. Obvious to everyone.

But -- I think -- it's also wrong.

What's sad is -- it has become so much the accepted wisdom, that just about every bookstore will start doing it.

And then be surprised when they go out of business.

If you want to host events because you like it, or because you want to provide a community service -- fine. I'm sure there is a plus factor (minus all the negatives, but still a small plus). What I'm saying is;

It isn't what will keep you in business. Being a good bookstore is what will keep you in business, not being an event center.

Try not to confuse the two things.

And remember, the above examples were actually provided by the Proponents of the idea of events, and even the numbers they provided pretty much sucked.

O.K.............I'm ready for everyone to disagree with me. :/

The Gordian Book-knot.

2012-01-14T10:31:00.000-08:00

I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening transferring my book into the Scrivener program.

I couldn't find a simple, easy but totally necessary first step and flailed around for a couple hours. Linda came home and listened to my blustering frustration for awhile, and then figured it out. A simple thing that seemed utterly unintuitive to me.

I think the problem I have with lots of computer stuff is that I can't see the forest for the trees -- that I want a few simple things, and they give me hundreds or thousands of options.

Anyway, I finally got the book into the program -- in roughly the format I want.

However, it seems like a bit of an unwieldy mess, right now. It goes from A to G to B to F to M to C to....something like that.

I think I need to work out the organization of it before I start doing the second draft.

The actually sitting down and writing I don't think will take that long.

This may seem like a lame example, but when I was in college, I'd often assemble the elements of term paper without being sure what the final form would be -- and I'd worry about it for awhile, but almost always it would come together in the end.

I need to immerse myself in it, struggle with it, and eventually it will take shape. I hope.

I ended up with 26 chapters, and about 68,500 words, which is actually bigger than I thought. It's maybe already big enough for an e-book, especially if we add visual and illustrative elements as we intend. I want it to be a "fast" read.

I usually add when I rewrite, so it may very well end up the size of, say, Star Axe, which for a fantasy wasn't a large book, but large enough to tell the story. Besides, personally I'm kind of tired of overblown fantasies.

I wish I wrote in more tidy way -- but that's just not the way of it. My creative impulses aren't tidy.

I'm just going to thrash out the structure this weekend and see if I can't find a way to get it all to fit.

Love the book, hate the writer.

2012-01-13T11:02:00.000-08:00

I'm really having trouble with Stephen Hunter. I love his books. He's a terrific storyteller. Addictive, propulsive action.

And he's a ginormous asshole.

He first offended me in his opinions of the pop culture trends that are my very break and butter -- and my first love. Science fiction and comics -- he pretty much dissed them on a regular basis as the film reviewer for The Washington Post.

O.K. I could overlook that. He's just ignorant.

But not...his last three books have gotten progressively more loony tune right wing batshit crazy. The book I'm reading now is so offensive, I can barely overlook it the bullshit.

The story is great, and then he'll do some transparently offensive caricature of Obama-- or any other liberal-- that I have to gulp and keep reading.

It's funny when you see people go off the rails. I'm guessing he started watching Fox News or listening to right wing radio. Ugh.

If only he wasn't such a good writer! It didn't matter to me that Clancy was a simply minded twit, because he is also a lousy writer.

I think this may be the last Hunter book I read. I can't get over his self-righteous smugness.

Whoopee! 0.1% rise in sales.

2012-01-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

"Retail Sales Rise Scant 0.1%." Bulletin, 1/13/12.

So much for all the predictions. What about all the news stories that we were bombarded with throughout the season about how sales were great, great, great!

Nevermind.

Meanwhile, the media was also full of stories about how stores were discounting, discounting, discounting!

So .... lower margin, with next to nothing increase in sales = lower profits.

The mass market stores have created a very stupid environment -- training the customers to wait for the last minute, and only to buy if it's hugely discounted.

I've been ignoring the whole nonsense for years now. I stock up the store, keep it stocked throughout the season, and sell everything for regular price. So, you know, I actually make money.

Sales in my store were up 20%, and I sold everything at retail price.

These giant stores really are dinosaurs, with huge appetites and tiny brains.

It is called a "Perp Walk."

2012-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Ms. Sawyer,

It's called a Perp Walk, and you are not the first nor the last the suffer the indignity of it.

Wiki: "PERP WALK is a common custom of American law enforcement, the practice of taking an arrested suspect through a public place at some point after the arrest..."

Notice the words "common."

From my reading of mysteries, it's done for a variety of reasons. The shake the defendant so they might be more malable in questioning. Or to make an example of someone. Nothing like a fellow stockbroker or mortgage agent being hauled out of the office in front of other stockbrokers to make a point. Which happens all the time, right? Right? ......uh.......right?

I'll say no more, since she seems to sue anyone who mentions her name in public.

"Executive Director of Business Development."

2012-01-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

Something I've noticed is, that occasionally a corporation will hire an entrepreneur to give itself some sort of boost.

And it almost always ends badly.

Turns out, the independent businessman can't operate in the bureaucracy . He's neutered and marginalized. The bureaucracy won't change no matter how it is pushed.

Seems to be the norm.

Same goes for creative people -- some manage to thrive in the bigger organization, but most flail around. (Insert story of Faulkner, Fitzgerald or Chandler in Hollywood.)

Anyway, Diamond Comics has hired a longtime comic person, Chris Powell, for the job of promoting specialty shops. With an apparent emphasis on creating new stores.

Normally, I'd be skeptical of the success of such a venture. But there are several factors that seem hopeful.

First, it's a new position, so he's not trying to work himself into an existing model. He's been given a blank slate.

Secondly, Chris Powell has shown he's capable in a variety of situations -- Comic's Pro, and The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Third, he's a constant presence on The Comic Book Industry Alliance forum, and seems to have his head screwed on right. I don't personally know him, but he seems very sensible.

Fourth, he was never the owner of the stores he managed (Lone Star Comics), but has been working for an owner. Which gives him some experience at dealing with higher ups.

So this could be a really great thing for the industry. What's probably holding us up from growth the most is the lack of venues for comics books. The comics are great, but most people just don't know it.

However, I couldn't quite shake a small bit of apprehension. Will he be able to create new comic stores in such a way as to not hurt existing stores? Without creating unnecessary competition?

What I've seen is, people seem to want ignore previously unserved populations areas, to congregate around population areas that seem to have successful stores. In other words, they want to follow the example of the stores they actually see, instead of envisioning store where they aren't.

So that's going to be tricky.

Still -- it's one of those moves that actually seems to make all kinds of sense for everyone involved. In fact, I'd say there is a danger of expecting too much. It's nice that Diamond is actually focusing on Brick and Mortars in a Digital world. (Of course, that's their business -- but then again, I think it's the publisher's business too, and they are pushing willy nilly into digital...)

It will be interesting to watch.

#(^%(& Insomnia!

2012-01-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

Business has gotten slow in the last week.

We are back to straight math again. Numbers of people who live here, plus numbers of people visiting, minus people who don't come in the store, minus the people who don't spend money in my store.

Something like that. No matter how you add or subtract, you just aren't going to do all that well this time of year. It's just the price you pay for being in a tourist town.

**********

I was feeling pretty confident about the book, but it is also getting hard to fit together. Like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces don't fit.

I took a newly written second chapter to writer's group and they picked it apart and they were mostly right, I think.

It's almost as though I need to start over from the beginning, using what I now know about the book. The stuff I only learned about by actually writing the book.

**********

For the first time in five years, I've had trouble getting this blog out in the morning. Because I've been having trouble falling asleep.

Not sure what's going on there, but I've lost a full hour in the morning as a result.

Anyway, last night I started brainstorming the book, and that's never a good idea. Back in the day when I was writing full time, I got really good at saying to my subconscious -- "Great. Hold onto the idea. Now shut up."

But last night it just kept coming at me, fully formed sentences and ideas. I didn't get up to write them down, which I may regret, but I think I've got the gist of it.

**********

I'm thinking if I mull it over long enough, I'll come up with some solutions on the story problems. I like the story, the background, the characters -- I'm just having trouble fitting it together.

**********

It's 10:15, I still need to shower and make breakfast the newspaper is on the driveway and I haven't made a circuit of the intertubenet and I have to leave in half an hour. I feel rushed and flushed and groggy.

I hate insomnia.

Fortunately, I don't get it very often.

The past becomes nearer.

2012-01-11T09:53:00.000-08:00

I was watching a documentary on the great cinematographer, Jack Cardiff. It was interesting, enough. But what really caught my attention was how the man's career went from the silent era right through to a couple of years ago. He died at 94.

He was the camera man for The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. But also for Rambo. It's obvious from the interviews, that into his 90's he was still on top of things.

I don't know -- it just changes my entire perspective of cinema. How relatively new it really is.

If you've seen Hugo, it seems like a quaint bygone era -- and yet, here was the guy who filmed Rambo, also was already well into having a career at that time.

As I get older, a strange thing happens. Things from farther ago, become nearer. Things that seemed like ancient history when I was young, now seem like the recent past. I was born only 7 years after WWII, and yet through my entire childhood it seemed like something from long ago, when people were different, and they acted and dressed funny.

Yet, Star Wars seems almost like yesterday for me. I was in college went it came out. But -- it's far, far more distant now, than say Kennedy's assassination was when that movie came out.

Anyway, any of you longer-in-the-tooth people know what I'm talking about, but younger folk won't give it a moment's thought.

Nor should they.

Inked stained scrivener. Virtual, that is.

2012-01-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

Jared came over last night and helped me with the Scrivener writing program upon which I'm going to write the second draft.

I sort of insisted that it look like a manuscript, which is what I am used to working with. That turned out to be a bit more a problem that it first appeared, but I now have something recognizable to work on. Indented, double spaced.

I'm going to be entering all the material today, and I'll soon know how many words I've already written.

I'm being more deliberative in this writing this book than I've ever been before. I'm pretty sure that, in the past, I probably would've just taken what I already have written and tried to dish it out. Rushed it into final form.

Instead, I'm holding off. I'm trying to fill in the cracks before I do that, give it time to gestate, let new ideas come up.

Of course, deliberative can just be another word for lazy.

I feel lazy, even though I'm about to finish a book. I feel like I should be working harder.

At the same time, I don't want it to lose the freshness.

Even though I say that I'm usually in too much of a hurry, at the same time, I've also overcooked some parts of my books in the past -- which is what makes me want them finished.

So I'm trying to take the time to keep it fresh but also do the necessary things. Work deliberately, but without too much laziness. It's a fine balance.

I love the initial process -- but I know that comes more in the form of a sketch instead of a finished book. I don't much enjoy as much the process of turning it into a more solid form.

"I like being able to fire people."

2012-01-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

"I like being able to fire people." Romney.

Here's the thing.

No matter what he meant by it.

I can't EVER imagine using that particular combination of words.

Ever.

So that he was able to say, "I like being able to fire people." ?

That to me just means that deep inside he means, "I like being able to fire people."

***********

Is it just me, or are there a lot more arson fires going on in Central Oregon than is normal? A lot more.

Copy cats?

**********

I'm sure there will be plenty of critics of the handling of the Cessna site.

But it does seem a little stupid to lay aside a guaranteed revenue stream for a "promise" of more jobs. Plus the possibility that they might get another, better deal. (Unmentioned is, they already have one business in place and wouldn't it make more sense to entice a second business?) Like the promise of destination resorts that they'll eventually get around to building The Hotel, promises of future jobs seem pretty shaky. (We planned to hire 75 more people, but -- you know -- the economy....)

Anyway, I think sometimes that our local governments give away too much to attract business, which then sticks around for a couple of years and crashes. Yes, Redmond and Prineville seem to offer better deals -- but I wonder if they have less to lose?

I've said it before -- if people really want to move to Bend and they have the financial ability to do so -- then they will. Bribing them makes me wonder how much they are really interested in coming here.

**********

Wow. A huge article on Dungeons and Dragons in the Bulletin this morning.

As long as it was, though, it left out some crucial history.

D & D has always had the problem of -- once you sell the basic rules, what do you sell after that? Sure, you can sell packaged adventures and supplements, but the basic rules are all you really need, and since D & D players are individualistic enough to play the game in the first place, they usually end up creating their own adventures.

So...once they buy the main books, they're done.

It became kind of obvious that the company would periodically "update" the rules just to get that revenue stream going again.

There is a new role-playing game, called Pathfinder, who seems to be doing what D & D should have done. Come up with a nice functional system, and sticking to it. They are a much smaller company, and don't have the corporate expectations.

There was a pretty strong rejection of D & D 4.0; after nearly universal acceptance of 3.0 and 3.5. (Sure there are people who want the "original rules" but they are like people who never buy anything anyway.)

The "original rules" were almost immediately messed up by TSR, the company that owned D & D before Wizards of the Coast bought it (which in turn was gobbled up by Hasbro.) Because of not wanting to pay royalties, they changed the name to "Advanced" D & D, and confusion has reigned ever since.

In other words, the damn license has been mismanaged from the beginning.

So for 5.0, Hasbro is asking for input from the fan community. Good luck with that.

Back to 4.0. This was a kind of misguided attempt to become more friendly to the video gaming community. But the appeal of D & D is that it ISN'T a video game.

I've been getting more and more requests for the 3.5 version, but this only exists as a used game, and I don't buy used games.

I carry one copy at all times of the main books -- Dungeon Masters Guide I and II; Players Handbooks I, II, and III; Monster Manual I, II, III, and so on, so when they become obsolete, I won't have too much inventory to try to get rid of.

Still, I do hope they do a good job with 5.0 and ....just stick with it, dammit!

For profit non-profits...or non-profit profits. Common Table.

2012-01-09T14:49:00.000-08:00

I can't resist commenting on the Common Table troubles, as detailed in the column in the Bulletin today.

There are a couple of points that seem to come up again and again, in Bend (and in this blog.)

First, that something that "works" elsewhere doesn't work in Bend. According to the story, all but one of the 18 other "non-profit" restaurants were in more populous areas.

Well, there you go. It won't be the first time that Bend tried to act like it was as big as elsewhere.

But more than that, Bend is different. I really believe that. We have strange demographics....

I've explicated that I think it's because of our relative isolation. We don't really have another metro area for at least 130 miles, over the High Cascades. We don't 'really' have a 4 year college. We are isolated by the fact we aren't connected to an Interstate -- the same 130 mile distance. I think, as well, we don't have a whole lot of strong industry here -- we are a retirement and tourist destination. I think second-home and retired people and tourists act differently overall than long-term residents. Oldtimers act differently than newcomers.

Truth is, though, I don't really know why Bend is so different. I just know, when I compare it with the experiences of other towns, we always seem a little ...off.

Secondly, I just don't believe that mixing profit and non-profit works well together. Whether it's a profit store that asks for non-profit contributions or volunteers or a non-profit store that tries to turn a profit. In the first case -- well, that's kind of scuzzy. In the second case -- well, doesn't seem cost effective.

Other -- true -- non-profits can make meals for the cost of 1.00, according to the article. So, I'd have to say, the money stretches quite a bit further, without blurring the goal.

So it comes down to the experience of the poor sitting down next to the rich. I'm not sure why this can't happen any old time. Just head on down to Drake Park, and strike up a conversation. In fact, it probably happens every day at McDonalds. Or even more often, at the public library. It seems like a "do-gooder" idea to me, but one that doesn't have a lot of long term viability.

Unless a bunch of you are doing this on a regular basis? I'd be more than glad to be wrong about this.

I mean, if it works --- great.

But it it doesn't work -- you have to wonder how many meals could be distributed for the same cost.

Christmas results.

2012-01-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

December sales were up by 19% over last year. It was the second best Christmas on record, eclipsed only by 2006. It beat 2007 by a little bit.

(2008 pretty much sucked, and 2009 and 2010 were static.)

Sounds very impressive, except that I more or less spent that 19% extra on product, so the profits were probably actually down a little bit.

This was a tradeoff, for me. An active business atmosphere, following up what strengths I have, pursuing the areas where I feel that the competition is weak. I mean, the profits are encased in the inventory, so you could actually say I made more profit -- but it just isn't the same as liquid assets. Still, I have a packed store which means I won't have to spend all spring just trying to catch up again.

These kinds of decisions are the very essence of running a small business; the kind of decisions where even in hindsight you can't be sure you made the right choice. I do know, it was the best of all results from the actual decision. I could easily have spent the money and not gotten the increased sales, for instance.

As I mentioned before, boardgames actually beat comic sales, for the first time. Totally seasonal.
Books actually beat graphic novels, equally seasonal.

I've finally got the three-legged store I've been trying to reach all these year. About 35% games and books; 40% comics and graphic novels; 25% everything else. (yearly.)

The results, compared to Christmas 2010.

+7% Comics
-7% Cards
+53% Card Games
+7% Games
+10% Books
-16% Toys
+2% Graphic Novels.

Card Games have recovered from the impact of two new competitors. It's possible that they've rejuvenated the market enough that I'm seeing an increase because of that. These sales levels are where they were before the two other guys opened.

Toys are a tough sell these days. They seem to be impacted by the recession spending more than any other category. Nevertheless, I'm going to concentrate on trying to get a boost out of them this year.

Books and Games are still increasing, albeit not as fast as the first few years.

Comics and graphic novels seem in good shape.

Sports cards are pretty steady, pretty low, but not totally inconsequential.

I've dropped anime as a category and I'm going to ring them up under toys. I've replaced it with Used books, so I'll know how many used versus new books I'm selling.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it.

Downtown Comings and Goings. 1/9/12.

2012-01-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

All right. I feel somewhat compelled to do this list again,
because of the Downtowner's press release which you can find
on KTVZ.

Most of the "new" businesses they list aren't actually new. Some
are expansions, and several are simple lateral moves. The only
new business I could see was the Solar Power business and I decided
it doesn't my perimeters of retail. ("information and consultation")

Lotus Moon is actually losing a storefront and moving into Tres
Jolie. By my definitions, that is a lost space...so I'm listing it as
"leaving" with a note that it has moved.

Game Domain has moved into a smaller space below in the downstairs
of the Penny's Galleria, so they've lost their street front space but I'm
keeping them on the list.

Brother Jon's has named their new restaurant: The Ale House,
so I'm changing that name below.

The Dog Patch seems to be definitely leaving. And Bend
Mapping and Blueprinting is moving out of downtown to
Greenwood.

So by my definitions, we've actually lost three or four
spaces -- and the occupancy rate of 92% would imply maybe one
or two more that I haven't discovered.

NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN

The Ale House, Bond St., 12/10/11.
What Lola Wants, Wall St. , 12/2/11.
Jackalope Grill, 10/12/11.
Gypsy Soul, Wall St. 10/12/11.
Colour N' the City, Tin Pan Alley, 10/12/11.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St., 10/12/11.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Ruby, Minnesota Ave., 10, 12/11.
Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails

(List begun, Fall, 2008.)

BUSINESSES LEAVING

The Dog Patch, Minnesota Av. 1/9/12.
Bend Mapping, Bond St., 1/9/12.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St. 1/9/12 (Moving into Tres Jolie)
Bond Street Grill, Bond St., 11/20/12.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 10/11.
Azu, Wall St., 10/25/11.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Av., 10/11.
Bourbon St., Minnesota Ave. 10/12/11.
Curiosity Shop, Minnesota Ave., 7/11
Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro

(List begun, Fall 2008.)

Have begun the rewrite.

2012-01-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Actually, most of my 're-writing' has taken the form of adding new material to the first draft.

I'm taking advantage of the characters' longevity by adding flashbacks. This will allow me to:

1.) Add historical personages, who have had contact with the "dark."
2.) Develop the love relationship between the main character and the love of his life.
3.) Bring in scenes where I describe the creatures who will show up at the end.

Since the two overall themes of the book are to show the long process of "becoming human" and the long process of showing the demise of species -- of both worlds -- and the main character's efforts to save them, this flashback process allows me to show it happening, instead of telling.

I've had a blast incorporating historical characters into the scenes. And the two themes as well as the love story are going to add some depth and texture to the story.

The biggest problem with bringing in the new material isn't the new scenes themselves -- by definition, they pretty much hold up as distinct material.

No...it's the narrative and the explanations that are going to be hard to time -- to make all the connecting tissue in the right places and not repeat myself or give away too much in doing it.

I'm keeping the faith that I can be clever enough in the end to smooth all that out.

A good result.

2012-01-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling extremely proud of myself right now.

I didn't have to make that big step toward gaming and new books a few years ago. It was a risk. I could have just tried to keep making what I do work.

And I did do that. Sales this Christmas were higher on comics and graphic novels than last year, so I haven't lost any ground there.

But sales on boardgames actually beat comics in December, which is totally unexpected. Sales on novels beat graphic novels, also unexpected.

So I'm proud of diagnosing the problem and coming up with a solution and making it work. I've managed to bring in two strong product lines without displacing existing product lines, which with my limited space, was a very creative effort.

I'm now trying to imagine how my store would be doing if I hadn't made the investment in games and books. Ouch.

Throwing more money at comics and graphic novels and card games and sports cards and anime and toys wouldn't have boosted sales all that much. They were already fully developed and mature categories.

Now that I've established games and books, I'm taking a second look at all the other categories, and trying to rejuvenate them, as well. Toys, (starting the carry the standard DC and Marvel action figures), cards, anime (brought in all the Myizaki movies, for instance), etc. etc. Small increases would be acceptable in all these categories.

I never did ease up on comics and graphic novels. I've been buying them full bore all along. And especially in comics, I've actually increased the numbers I order. I'm not letting them fall away.

Basically, books and games are doing about twice as well as my initial hope for them, with room still to grow.

I haven't had the urge in the last three years to bring in more categories, though. It simply isn't possible....

I'll have more detailed totals later in the day, for both the month and the year.

Sat. Shots

2012-01-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

Stupid me, it never occurred to me that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo would still sell. I knew that all the used copies of all three books were gone from the store, and none have come in lately. But I didn't think anyone would want it new.

So the constant flow of requests surprises me.

I mean, it was a bestseller for a couple of years, or more. There has already been a trilogy of movies released (Swedish) and well....it just seemed like old news.

But -- apparently -- a Hollywood movie. That's different.

**********

Meanwhile, Hunger Games sells O.K.

But I know the big surge is coming...

**********

We sold a whole bunch of Tintins. Unlike the usual pattern of graphic novels mostly selling in advance, in anticipation of a movie, I'm pretty sure these mostly sold to people who had seen the movie.

It had that effect on me.

**********

The Blazers seem to be winning without any big stars.

Sadly, that probably won't continue. But wouldn't it be cool if it did?

**********

Dear T.V.

QUIT putting all your good shows on SUNDAY! Even my DVR can't keep up.

**********

Tucker and Dale vs Evil: What a fun movie!

Did this movie even make it to Bend? Did I just miss that?

Also watching Troll Hunter, though I'm not a big fan of the Blair Witch kind of movie. But I appreciate the cleverness of it.

(I HATED Blair Witch, and honestly don't get why people like it...)

**********

A couple of the online reviewers of my books Snowcastles and Icetowers made fun of the possibility that people could live in such places.

But ever since, I've been reading more and more instances where people build such things, Ice Hotels and such. There was an blurb in the Bulletin the morning about a church in Bavaria that was built of snow and ice.

I just figured it was possible -- like giant igloo's.

"But how do the people handle fire?" Linda asks.

"Not my problem. It's a fantasy." I answer.

"But it IS your problem...."

"O.K. They have a special formula that makes the ice as hard as rock. Sheeesh."

The future's so bright, we need to pull shades.

2012-01-06T12:36:00.001-08:00

I know this is a utterly ridiculously contrarian viewpoint, but I think the future of the independent bookstore, games store, comic store, video store, record store -- is bright. So bright, we need to pull shades.

If I had to guess what a town like Bend will look like in 10 years, I'd bet we have at least one independent bookstore, one record store, one comic store, one games store -- maybe more.

What we won't have is a Borders, Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster, Virgin Records -- whatever oversized monstrosity you choose.

In other words, it's the mass market, category killers who are going to be wiped out by the digital asteroid, leaving the survivors of this digital revolution to reap the benefits. The dinosaurs will be gone, and the mammals will have their day. After generations of scurrying into niches, the niches are going to bloom.

For most of my career, the mass market has been the biggest obstacle to my making money. The internet is relatively new, and frankly, the same responses I developed to survive the onslaught of Walmart is the same response I have to Amazon.

You can't beat them.

They will always be cheaper, they will always have more.

I was fortunate in that comics were such a small industry, that the mass market more or less ignored them. I could take a bigger slice of a much smaller pie. There are probably as many comic books stores in the U.S.A. as there are independent bookstores, or record stores, even though comics are much, much smaller market overall.

My guess is, that a small slice of a much bigger market (books, games, toys, music), even if that market shrinks drastically, will provide independents a future.

For sure, there is going to be a shakeout, as everyone adjusts to the new realities. Creative destruction on a massive scale.

But I truly believe that the shopping experience, the browsing, touching, seeing, talking, feeling, atmosphere soaking experience of independent stores is here to stay. Let Amazon have 90% of the market, and the 10% will still probably be more money than most comic stores make today, so I know it can be done. Independents won't get rich, but I think there can still be a satisfying career to be had.

No doubt, digital will reign supreme, but there will still be plenty of people who want books, or who want digital...and books. I think, in fact, that there will be lots of people who come back us, as the soullessness of the computer screen sinks in.

It will be our job as independents to have an idiosyncratic and interesting selection of books, have them displayed in eye-catching ways, be willing (and knowledgeable enough) to talk and interact with the customer, have places and hours where we can be found, and otherwise be a satisfying and enjoyable experience.

Those skills can be developed, even now. After a year or two of absorbing the lessons of the e-readers, I'm feeling more optimistic now than I have in a long time.

Take the Nook out, and you've got another Borders.

2012-01-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

Barnes and Noble is thinking of spinning off the Nook.

I'm not sure I understand all the ramifications of this -- but my general sense is that this is an effort to wring value out of the stock. I figure they'll dump all the debts into the Brick and Mortar operation, and take the high-flying Nook division away to make all the money.

In other words, I think they are giving up on physical books.

They'd never say that, of course.

One commentator was mentioning that it defied the selling option of using the bricks and mortars for publicizing the Nook. Maybe I don't understand the "spinning off" part, but why? Why wouldn't they just push even harder? Devote even more space, time, energy, employees to push the Nook? Let the books crash and burn, what do they care? It's all doomed anyway....

What's been happening is that the Barnes and Noble stock hasn't been going anywhere, despite the 'success' of the Nook. So it seems they've decided to extract the value by removing the one part of the operation that has a future.

Whether that's smart or dumb, I do think it spells the end of the Barnes and Noble bookstores. Without the Nook, they are just another version of Borders, right?

Writing for the write reasons.

2012-01-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

When you buy, sell, and read as many books as I do, you start to get a sense of the enormous size of the marketplace. Especially if you sell books.

I see hundreds of titles per weekend being touted on the literary sites. I see thousands of books a week being offered by my distributors. And that's just the new stuff.

I don't know how this affects other writers -- I don't know, maybe it inspires them. It certainly would seem to point to the idea there is room for a writer to get published, because plenty of them are getting published. Most you've never heard of. Most you never will hear of.

For me, it's kind of dispiriting. What's the use? I see books on the remainders lists that I've heard of, that were well-reviewed, that I had thought would sell very well. I see books being discounted that have been turned into movies, that got the front page review in the N.Y. Times.

And then it seems like every other person in the door is looking for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, or The Hunger Games. I liked T.G.W.T.D.T. fine, I guess. It was kind of clunky, but I liked how different it was.

But off the top of my head, I can point to dozens of authors who are better.

I very much enjoyed The Hunger Games -- but not to the exclusion of everything else.

Anyway, as I'm trying to pump up my motivation to finish my book, it can be a bit deflating.

I've mentioned before, "writing through the doubt."

Well, there's that.

I'm trying to get back to that feeling I get when I'm writing that it deserves to exist. That there is a story there. The enjoyment part. That is what is going to have to sustain me over the next few months.

The "write" reasons, if you well.

Thursday thunks.

2012-01-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

This is the first year in a long time that I think the Star Wars franchise didn't play a big role at Christmas.

It'll come around again, I have no fear.

The 3-D movies are coming.

***********

Best way to watch a football game. DVR, then fast forward all the huddles and time-outs. You don't miss anything but lame commentary, and the game goes whizzing by....

**********

Peace and quiet is probably not something any storekeeper should ever wish for -- but it's kind of nice to come to a quiet and peaceful store after the holiday rush.

**********

I ordered 219 copies of Batgirl #5, instead of the 19 or 21 copies I thought I was ordering.

I think I can return them, but they make it a little difficult, so I'm not looking forward to it. On the other hand, having 600.00 (retail) of extra Batgirls isn't my idea of fun, either.

**********

I'm going to dive into writing tomorrow, and not re-emerge until I've finished the second draft. I've warned Linda I'll be distracted. That I may skip a lot of T.V. shows, and so on. I took most of December off, which was dangerous, but I don't think I had much choice.

So a whole lot of these blog entries will probably be about writing for awhile.

***********

Finally, I think I'll just say I don't know what to think about the "privatization" of the county public works.

It feels like a bad idea. Rife with the possibilities of corruption.

My general sense is to ask -- is this with 'standard practices' for local government? I would think we'd be best off, usually, doing what the general tradition is. (I know, this sounds funny from a guy who tends to reject 'standard practices' when it comes to small business -- but if I'm wrong, it only hurts me.)

I'll leave this discussion open for those who know more about this than me.

The Star Axe made real.

2012-01-04T10:03:00.000-08:00

I got the painting of Star Axe in the mail yesterday.

I tried to save up all year for it, but couldn't quite get there. So we finally decided that it would be the only Christmas present, and took the money out of savings. There is just no way I couldn't buy it.

The arrival was very exciting. I made a customer and Boyd, the mailman, wait around while I opened it. And opened it. And opened it. The packing was dense, to say the least.

But I finally freed the picture.....and it is magnificent. It is very Frazetta, Royo, Vallejos. But, more accurately, it's a sword and sorcery cover, which is what the publisher labeled my book. (I thought of it more as Heroic Fantasy, but, hey -- they were the ones writing the checks.)

Anyway, the painting was much bigger than I expected -- if it had been any bigger I wouldn't be able to display it in my store.

The details just pop out. Up to now, I've only had a picture the size of a paperback to judge it by. And of course, the writing on the cover of the title and that pesky author obscured some of the picture.

There is nothing like an original oil painting to see the depth and textures.

I didn't choose the artist or the image, but I was very happy when I first saw it, and I've always pretty much liked it since.

I also bought a giglee of Star Axe from the artist, Romas Kukalis. (Signed, #23 of a 100 print run. I think he probably turned around and made a printing because I asked for a copy.) I took it down the street to High Desert Framing. The framing is going to cost 2.5 times the actual print, but I picked deluxe design and materials.

Since it's going to take 10 days or so for the framing to be done, I decided to hang the original painting at the store for a month or two. Not much longer than that, because I'm worried about exposing the work to the constant florescent lights. Eventually, I'll take it home and put up in my office, and replace it with the giglee at the store.

For context, I put my book on a little stand next to the picture.

Anyway, it's a pretty impressive painting.

Come in and see it, everyone!

No -- what you know is wrong.

2012-01-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

An interesting discussion over on The Beat, where a statistical analysis of the New 52 DC comics has "proven" that the venture was unsuccessful at increasing sales or readership.

To which, several of us retailers pipe up and say, "That's not right. It was very successful."

Then it gets kind of funny, because they come back with, "I assure you, Sir, you were not successful with the New 52" to which they might as well add, "And your name isn't Duncan."

Heh.

More seriously, what accounts for the discrepancy between the statistics and the retailers' experiences? Are we deluding ourselves?

First of all, the statistics have a variable or two that I think most of us retailers wouldn't count. For instance, the "returns" on issues 3 and 4. I'm not returning a single issue, because by the time the 3rd issue rolled in, I had refined my orders to normal numbers.

Secondly, it's possible that me and the other retailers who responded are the exceptions. I don't believe that. There are always a few stores who miss the boat, but this should be a constant. So I don't think that's it.

Third, I'm seeing sales in context. I'd been losing subscribers for about a year, and the New 52 brought us right back to previous numbers. Just as Obama is going to have to try to prove that the economy would have been worse without his efforts, I'd have to try to prove that comic sales would have been worse without the New 52.

In looking at the numbers in the four months preceding the New 52, our comic sales were down about 15% from the previous year (worse than I thought, because they had been covered by my increased sales in books and games). The increase in the first four months of the New 52 is up 20%. So that is a 35% swing.

But I can see how a statistician might just see a 15 or 20% increase, add the variable of returns and (whatever the other variables were, I couldn't figure out; one of the miracles of my college education was I passed a Statistics course without understanding a thing....) and the increase might be reduced to marginal numbers.

But that's not how it felt in the real world.

Fourth, I'm gauging overall interest. Even though I'd been losing subscribers, my actual sales hadn't been dropping comparatively. And yet -- it wasn't a good sign. Subscribers are strongly interested in getting their comics, and sales off the counter are more incidental. I'd say that the New 52 rejuvenated interest in comics, even among the Marvel and independents readers.

Fifth, for me the boost in DC sales was just what I needed, bringing my discount level up another notch, and allowing me to reinvest in DC graphic novels, thus allowing the possibility of increased sales in the future.

Sixth, the new readership is there, but they simply took the place of lapsed readership, so it isn't noticeable. Still, new readership is what our industry needs. It shows that it can be done. That and bringing back former readers.

So I see the New 52 as spectacularly successful.

But I must be wrong.

Sons of Anarchy (Spoilers)

2012-01-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

Finished the second season of S.O.A.

A veritable symphony of bad Irish accents. Our movies and T.V. are full of British and Irish and Aussie and New Zealander actors who do convincing American accents. (Jax is an English actor, for instance.) But Americans often do lame foreign accents. (Meryl Streep excepted, of course.)

I figured out last night, that the world of motorcycles is like a Settlers of Catan game. The resources are drugs, guns, porn and extortion. The players are the Latin gangs, the Black gangs, the White gangs, the Irish gangs, the Cop gangs -- and, the S.O.A.

I have a suggestion for T.V. writers -- "Lockdowns" are obviously inconvenient for your plotting, so don't do them. Don't send off the "Queen" and the "Princess" on a stupid tampon shopping trip, with one guard, if that's what you need to do, and pretend it's sensible. (I looking at you, too, Terra Nova -- either it's a lockdown or it isn't...)

I don't know why, what gave it away -- but I sensed that Numbnuts was doomed a couple of episodes in advance. I turned to Linda and said, "He's wearing a red shirt..."

Finally, if all you are going to do is pop the bad guys in the end -- then why do you make a big deal out of "being smart" and "setting them up?" The shooting them in the head option is always there, but they are wildly inconsistent about when they apply that solution.

As long as I'm complaining, I've just about had it with Hell on Wheels. What bugs me is that it is supposed to be a show centered on building a railroad, but they make zero effort to make that believable. Seriously, if they had the same plot and same actors and same costumes -- but actually made a half-assed effort to show the 'working on the railroad' part in the background in a believable way -- it would be a decent show.

I'm trying to winnow down my T.V. watching, so I'm through with Hell on Wheels.

I've suggested to Linda that we write down a list of "Unmissable" shows, DVR just them, and contain our watching to just a couple of nights a week. I don't think that will work when Linda will watch any rerun of N.C.I.S. or Bones and especially Law and Order, and I'm a sucker for any Nova or Frontline or Masterpiece Theater that comes along.

I realize that we watch too much T.V., but there really are a bunch of very good shows on these days, especially on the premium channels. Network T.V.? Not so much. House and Mentalist both are pretty mediocre these days -- the only exception is The Good Wife, which is consistently great. I'm going to drop Persons of Interest -- it's O.K., but that isn't good enough. C.S.I. Las Vegas is barely hanging in there, as the major characters drop away one by one. Grimm falls short of being a good show. Mentalist is hanging by the thin thread of charm. So I'm willing to drop those, as well. Maybe only The Good Wife is truly unmissable, for me. And The Walking Dead.

And the cable shows: Dexter, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire.

Do I talk about the end of the year, or the beginning?

2012-01-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

So they are talking about eliminating the dollar coins.

But what will I put in my piggy bank?

**********

I have to admit, the "uncanny valley" phenomenon was less troubling in the movie Tintin than it was in the trailers. I've noticed before, the contrast is more more extreme when you get it in short bursts and without the context.

Still -- I think I probably spent the first 20% of the movie noticing the differences. It still is distracting.

I think this will wear off, eventually, if they keep using and perfecting this process. It will become something we all just accept.

I hope.

**********

About midway through the second season of Sons of Anarchy, and the show hit its stride.

I was getting pretty fed up with the constant, "Hey, are you O.K." "Yeah, I'm just pissed at Cole" Hamlet-y stuff that was going on. I was beginning to think Jax was the poster child for passive aggressive.

Then, in the course of two shows, they resolved it all -- laid it all out, and refocused.

Hamlet is all well and good, but I'd like a little resolution once in awhile.

***********

I've noticed that a lot of my favorite shows over time have taken a year or two to really hit their stride.

Star Trek: Next Generation. Buffy. X-Files. It's like the actors settle on their tone, and the showrunner has refined the message.

**********

"Do you want to see War Horse, Sherlock Holmes, or Dragon Tattoo?"

"Anything but War Horse. It's about war and horses -- and I don't like horses."

"I see no reason to see Dragon Tattoo -- we've already seen it...."

"I want to see Dragon Tattoo..."

"Sherlock Holmes it is...."

**********

Was totally psyched by the last week of the year. We had a very good week.

Overall, this December was the second best we've ever had. Boardgames beat comics for the first time. Novels beat graphic novels for the first time. It's seasonal, but still a good sign for my diversity efforts.

I also spent a whole bunch, so we probably made about as much profit as last year, but we were a full 20% ahead in sales. Our second half of the year was good enough to pull us over last year in total. Cool.

I'm going to have a lot more to say about all this when I analyze the year-end figures.

Never mind the bullets.

2012-01-01T10:06:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what I find most scary.

That a wife could shoot a husband 5 times on purpose and get away with it.

That a wife could shoot a husband 5 times by accident and still have the right to bear arms.

That a wife could shoot a husband 5 times and they couch it as some kind of moral success story.

People are strange.

Happy New Year everyone!

2012-01-01T09:12:00.000-08:00

I never make New Year's resolutions because

a. I'm perfect.

b. I'm so flawed that nothing will help.

c. I'm so weak-willed that a New Year's resolution just proves it...and I'm tired of proving it.

d. All the above.

**********

I kept thinking that the villain in Tintin looked like Steven Spielberg, and when I got home and googled it, I only got as far as "Tintin villain lo....." before a bunch of hits came up, so apparently I wasn't the only one.

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit actually. A rollicking adventure.

I sold a bunch of Tintin graphic novels this Christmas.

**********

Somebody set off such a loud boom at midnight, that our kitchen wall clock fell off and broke.

These celebrations are getting louder every year.

I made this mistake of letting the cat out about 11:30 or so, and after all the noise I went looking for her, finally to hear this strange, plaintive meow near the upstairs sliding door. She ran in and hid for awhile. So much meaning in such a simple meow...

**********

We were watching the trailers in front of Tintin, and they're doing a 3-D Titanic and I'm thinking how gorgeous Kate Winslet was in this movie (she's since gotten as thin and angular as all the other actresses, sadly) and the end tag line comes and I unexpectedly feel a tear in my eye. "I'll never let go."

Whenever that happens -- that Hallmark emotion -- I look at Linda, and sure enough she's crying.

I never did want to see Titanic again, because I found it to be very sad.

I never put down that movie, because it was very effective at what it does.

**********

Also watching the lead in graphics to the Imax process and thinking what a teenager from the '60's would think if he was magically transported to today's experience. (Specifically -- ME.)

"What...you still have the clunky glasses?"

"Where's the holodeck?"

"Is that animation? What is that?"

"Who's Steven Spielberg?"

"Movies cost $13.00!!!!"

The corporate meatgrinder.

2011-12-31T09:42:00.000-08:00

It's sad to see people chewed up and spit out by corporate America. I'm talking about the employees, here. The underlings.

There but for the grace of god go I.

I saw it happen to Linda, working as assistant manager at Regal Cinemas. She had health insurance, -- which we ended up needing -- but it was a horrible job, in many ways. She has a certain nostalgia for it, but I was there, man, and it was a meat grinder. (Same with her short stint at Barnes and Noble, which turned out to be about anything but books.)

I remember going to the movies the week after she finally quit, and meeting some of her co-workers, and turning to Linda and saying, "Do you see that look of panicked stress in their eyes? That was you a week ago."

She landed in her own bookstore, and is the mistress of her domain, and happy at it. And all those managers from Barnes and Noble and Regal, who in my opinion treated her unfairly, can go suck eggs. (That may be a bit mean-spirited, because at the local level they are all victims of the meatgrinder.)

Yes, owning your own business can be stressful, but at least you are charge of your own decision making. Yes, you can fail, but so can you lose a job. I read once that the worst kind of stress is having all the responsibility but none of the power to make changes. When you own your own business, you have both the responsibility AND the ability to make changes; stressful, but it has a different flavor to it.

What brought this up is reading another blog, (Rocket Bomber) written by a guy who works in a national book chainstore. He seems terribly put upon. He fantasizes about opening his own bookstore, but the fantasy is so over-the-top that it will never happen. I suggested once that he open a more modest endeavor and he slapped me down. (Admittedly, he had asked for no comments, so I probably deserved it. Still....kind of lost a lot of sympathy for him.)

It's strange to see someone keep their corporate meat grinder job year after year, and hear how he rationalizes it, and wishing he'd just take the chance and put that kind of effort into his own business.

I probably should be careful about advising that, though. It does seem like an awful lot of these 'dream' businesses fail. But I know what I would do.

Selling what no one wants.

2011-12-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

I say it every season. I'm happy when Christmas (and summer) get here, and happy when it goes.

I like the money. I like the activity. But all the frenetic flow and people wear me out.

I'll be content to hibernate for a couple of months.

Everything in a cycle, in waves....that's the way life should be.

**********

I'm going to dive into writing next week, and try to push thru to the finish. I might -- if I need to -- go on a short writing trip to kickstart the process.

I'm seeing how I've maybe set myself up for a reaction that I'm not quite prepared for. When I wrote my first books, it was more or less an impersonal process. I never met my agent or editors or the vast majority of my readers.

I'm going to be a little more vulnerable to opinions with this process. What I'm not going to do is put anyone on the spot and ask.

**********

I was talking about the lucky streak of warm shopping days had come to an end. Ironically, it may have helped business. I had several groups of customers mention that they had decided to skip skiing after a soggy day on the mountain.

The worst scenario for a tourist -- coming because there is good snow, and being met by bad snow -- is the best scenario for shopping.

Sorry bout that.

**********

Stupid wolf. Going to California. Sheesh.

**********

Another brewery in town.

Maybe I should get in on the action. I don't know nuttin about beer, but I figure I'll just hire a bunch of home brewers, put a cute name on it, some artsy packaging, and sell it really really cheap.

Speaking of which -- I saw so many Powell's Candy bags this Christmas, that I'm convinced it must be the busiest store in Bend.

I KNEW I should have gone into a different business -- beer, candy, drugs...something sinful.

Because selling reading material is just stupid.

It's time to get started on my 2011 projects.

2011-12-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

It's time to get started on my 2011 projects.

Which one to do first?

Write a book?

Lose 20 pounds?

Start an exercise program?

Cut down on my T.V. viewing?

Ah....I think I'll mull it over for a day or two and then decide.

Yes, sir. 2011 is when I'm really going to get things done.....

Wed. wats.

2011-12-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

Much as I appreciate the rain (I was thinking about resorting to breaking out the watering hoses for my garden, cause I was afraid my plants were being freeze dried) I'm sure it will put a damper on sales for the rest of the week.

It's kind of the end of our lucky streak. The weather was so uniform this shopping season that I think it helped. There wasn't the usual one or two inexplicable clunker days.

************

I'm proud of myself for figuring out the Hamlet connection to Sons of Anarchy all by my lonesome.

Linda and I have blown through 10 episodes. (They are relatively short, at about 39 minutes.)
For those of you who are way ahead of us on what's happened, please don't tell. For those of you who haven't started watching, there be spoilers ahead.

In the show, Jax (Hamlet) spends much of his time in the ramparts (the roof of the garage) communing the dead ghost of his dad (in the form of diaries.)

The one thing that bothers me about the show, is sometimes they seem to try a little too hard for the swaggering tough guy effect -- which can have the opposite effect of reminding me that they are all just actors, after all.

I think it's partly because of the shortness of the show, that things that can be a little more developed on HBO or Showtime, with an extra 10 or 15 minutes, in this show seem to be slightly telegraphed.

It's a problem with all tough guys shows, really. I remember seeing French Connection last year, and what had seemed so gritty and real when I was young seemed slightly fake and almost cartoony.

The actor's are mostly pulling it off -- so I'm not sure if the problem is the writing or the actors or just that they are talking about a foreign world and trying to show the "hearts of gold" and all that and it somehow doesn't quite seem -- realistic.

It walks a very narrow line, and pulls it off -- mostly.

**********

So far, we haven't had a single return. (knock wood). They may still all come in like an avalanche, but so far so good.

I'm very casual about telling the customers that if it isn't the right thing, they can exchange it for anything in the store.

We try not to give cash back -- but sometimes you just can't avoid it. But it sure hurts when it happens.

Exchanges? Those only make sense.

**********

I did my December orders yesterday, and allowed myself to order all the "cool" stuff I saw -- and it came in about 25% higher than is healthy.

Is the store strong enough to take the chance? If I order 25% more, can I sell about 15% more to cover it?

This kind of thing almost never pans out, but occasionally -- it does. And it's how the store takes a step forward. It's that risky move that you can usually avoid taking -- but not always.

I'll add up the Christmas profits, see how far down I'm paying on the debts, and make my decision by Thursday. I more or less already made the big gamble this Christmas -- so I need to see how that panned out by paying all the bills and seeing what's left.

**********

That the Parks and Rec district has millions to spend on land points to the off-kilter nature of public funding. I'm sure there are firewalls protecting the money from raids by other entities who might need to money more...in the short term.

In the long term, I think they are being smart snapping up the land while they can.

As you know, my belief is that Central Oregon is fundamentally a tourist and retirement economy and will mostly remain so.

It makes sense to have as many park amenities as possible.

A "wide range of merchandise" ?

2011-12-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

Golden Apple comics is for sale in Los Angeles, if you got a spare $679,000.00 laying around.

The founder of this "iconic" store died a few years ago, and my sense is that it's been more or less going downhill ever since.

What caught my notice was this description: "The Golden Apple was a forward-facing store with a wide range of merchandise..." (Interesting phrasing: "was" a "forward looking"....)

If you look at the actual merchandise, though, it's:

58.3% New comics.
31.7% Graphic Novels.
10% Everything Else.

I suspect that the vast majority of those 90% comics and graphic novels are superhero oriented.

Anyway, as comparison, I checked this December's totals for the same categories in my store:

21.1% New comics.
16.8% Graphic Novels.

62% Everything else. Yes, comics are about 38% or a little more than 1/3rd.

Now THAT'S a description of a store with a "Wide Range."

I think that's the description of a store that is more likely to survive over the long run.

That 38% of sales for comics and graphic novels doesn't represent an actual decline in sales of those two categories -- in fact, we will probably beat last year. I haven't slowed down my support of these two categories at all, indeed the diversity of product has allowed me to continue to buy what I need there, and to up my orders on new comics.

What it shows is that the other categories in the store have increased.

Boardgames are almost exactly equal to new comics this Christmas. Granted -- this is the high water mark for that category.

New books are almost exactly equal to graphic novels this Christmas. Again, a seasonal high water mark.

Sports cards and dvd's accounted for another 5%.
Toys accounted for 7.5%
Card Games accounted for 10%.

This 22.5% of sales is an even bigger argument for diversity -- it's probably what makes the rest of the store work.

Comics and graphic novels will probably come closer to 50% of the total in most months -- and that shows the strengths of my regular clientele. The strength of the other product shows the strength of the foot traffic of the downtown area and of the seasons.

Together, they make for a "diverse" store that has a chance of selling something.

"Sons of Anarchy" Christmas.

2011-12-26T11:30:00.000-08:00

Of all things, we watched the first four episodes of this motorcycle gang saga.

You know how we're identifying with the bad guys in these shows? Meth and arms dealers. Or serial killer Dexter, or Gangster Nucky. Kind of a weird development.

I wanted to watch this show for some time, and with reruns going on, this was a good time to dive in. We have several seasons to catch up on. I thought I might have a hard time getting Linda to watch, but Ron Perlman is one of her favorite actors (ever since Beauty and the Beast) , so that's how I got her to watch the first episode...

"You know," she says. "He's getting better looking as he gets older."

"He's still ugly."

"Well, sure.... but better looking than before."

**********

"Exit through the Gift Shop."

The documentary by (about?) street artist Banksy.

I have a strange reaction to these art documentaries. These people all seem like raging egotists and preening narcissists.

Banksy's anonymity actually makes him seem even more of an egoist, somehow.

Maybe that's what it takes to get noticed in the art world.

As far as the documentary is concerned, if you like mind games, this was a good one. I don't think I liked it much -- I would have preferred a straight documentary about street art, with many more examples.

And yet, it makes its point.

**********

"Angry Bear" blog has a cute column about how Unitarians "saved" Christmas. (And the Puritans literally "outlawed" it.)

heh.

The "Retro" store.

2011-12-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-24T09:47:00.000-08:00

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.

**********

Bank robbers...our new industry.

2011-12-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

Bend has a new industry!

It requires no real skills and is very lucrative.

Apply at your local bank today!

A Bookish Proclamation.

2011-12-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-20T08:50:00.000-08:00

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?

2011-12-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-17T09:52:00.000-08:00

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?

2011-12-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-16T09:03:00.000-08:00

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?

2011-12-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-12-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

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.)

Why....you dirty rat!

2011-12-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

I used to have rats as pets, and they were great. Fun personalities, very friendly. There was Elmer and Paveratti and the inevitable Ratfinks....

But they died miserable, tumor-ridden deaths after only a few years, and I really didn't like watching it happen helplessly.

Anyway, there was an article in the Bulletin about an experiment with rats that showed they have empathy.

A roaming rat will work "tirelessly" to free a trapped rat; even when tempted with food.

I really liked the little detail that when the trapped rat is finally freed, the two rats have a little victory "celebration."

I can see that.

I'll bet you ten million....errr, 10 dollars.

2011-12-11T09:06:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it, but the Republicans appear on the verge of picking the fat old corrupt pompous politician guy.

Wow.

I try not to be political on this blog, but this is a pretty interesting development.

**********

Try as I might, I just can't get interested in the Europe economic details -- no matter how much I know it will impact on us.

I'm about at the same level of knowledge I used to be about the American economy, but without the motivation to learn more. "Try as I might?" -- well, I'm not really trying.

Eyes blur, snooooooozzzzeeeeee.......

**********

Walmart heirs have a net worth more than the lowest 30% of the U.S. population.

Who are their best customers.

Instant karma.

They've never gotten a dime from me and they never will.

For some reason, it hasn't impacted my lifestyle one iota.

**********

A big baseball player caught using performance enhancing drugs. And I'm not familiar with him. Ryan Braun, MVP.

I thought I'd stay in touch with baseball better. Not proud of my ignorance (nor about the Euro crisis), just a little surprised by the depth of it.

I kind of like baseball, but I just don't seem to find the time for it.

The Game of Stores.

2011-12-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned, about 40% of the stores and restaurants in downtown Bend have turned over in the last 3 years.

I don't know if this is more --or less -- than usual. (Which is one of the reasons I started keeping the Comings and Goings list. Eventually, I'll be able to see a pattern.)

I've never trusted the old cliche statistic that half of all businesses fail in the first two years -- I've always figured that was overstated by a long shot. (Now half -- or more -- in FIVE years, that I would believe.) I've always had the theory that anyone opening a business, especially in an expensive downtown, it going to hang on for At Least 2 years if at all possible. An average lease, I'm guessing, is 3 to 5 years, so that is when the big decision needs to be made.

By my reckoning, all the really fancy new restaurants, where a huge amount of money was spent to set up, have been replaced by now. The replacements getting a fancy new spot for a fraction the price -- Leaving a Beautiful Corpse, I call it.

I think the "failing upward" nature of downtown continues, as well. Many of the replacement stores are fancier than the ones before, and the old spaces get renovated because they become available and they become available because an older business left.

Unfortunately, the low vacancy rate keeps the rents relatively high. Housing prices have dropped like 55% around this town, but downtown rents have declined maybe 10 or 20%, and with cost of living increases, much of that has been raised back up again.

So the Game of Stores will continue, because people see a 'thriving' downtown, and probably overestimate the business and the ability to pay the rents.

Downtown Comings and Goings. 12/10/11.

2011-12-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

I was just about to post that the Bond Street Grill was closed, when it was announced in the Bulletin this morning that Brother Jon's is opening a second location in that space.

The Game of Stores continues...

My count, is 80 business locations have changed hands in the last 3 years, or about 40%.

NEW BUSINESSES DOWNTOWN

Brother Jon's, Bond St., 12/10/11.
What Lola Wants, Wall St. , 12/2/11.
Jackalope Grill, 10/12/11.
Gypsy Soul, Wall St. 10/12/11.
Colour N' the City, Tin Pan Alley, 10/12/11.
Lotus Moon, Brooks St., 10/12/11.
The Lobby, Bond St. , 10/12/11.
Ruby, Minnesota Ave., 10, 12/11.
Kariella, Lava Road, 8/24, 11.
Plankers, Wall St., 7/11.
Faveur, Franklin, 7/11.
Dream Pebbles, Minnesota Ave., 6/15/11.
Bend Yogurt Factory, Franklin/Bond, 4/26/11.
High Desert Lotus, Bond St. , 4/4/11.
Tryst, Franklin Ave., 3/11/11. (Formerly Maryjanes, **Moved**).
D'Vine, Wall St. , 2/9/11.
Let it Ride!, Bond St., 1/29/11.
Gatsby's Brasserie Bar, Minnesota Ave., 1/8/11
Tres Jolie, Wall St., 12/20/10.
Caldera Grill, Bond St., 12/7/10
Bond Street Grill, 12/7/10.
Perspective(s), Minnesota Ave., 11/20/10
Toth Art Collective, Bond St. 11/20/10
Boken, Breezeway, 11/20/10
Dalia and Emilia, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Antiquarian Books, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Giddyup, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
The Closet, Minnesota Ave., 8/11/10.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Ave., 8/11/10,
Red Chair Art Gallery, Oregon Ave. 7/13/10.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 7/12/10.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 6/2910
Common Table, Oregon Ave. , 6/29/10.
Looney Bean Coffee, Brooks St. , 6/29/10.
Bourbon Street, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
Feather's Edge, Minnesota Ave., 6/22/10
The BLVD., Wall St. , 6/13/10.
Volt, Minnesota Ave. 6/1/10.
Tart, Minnesota Ave. , 5/13/10
Olivia Hunter, Wall St. 4/5/10.
Tres Chic, Bond St. 4/5/10
Blue Star Salon, Wall St. 4/1/10.
Lululemon, Bond St. 3/31/10.
Diana's Jewel Box, Minnesota Ave., 3/25/10.
Amalia's, Wall St. (Ciao Mambo space), 3/12/10
River Bend Fine Art, Bond St. (Kebanu space) 2/23/10
Federal Express, Oregon Ave. 2/1/10
***10 Below, Minnesota Ave. 1/10/10
Tew Boots Gallery, Bond St. 1/8/10.
Top Leaf Mate, 12/10/09
Laughing Girls Studio, Minnesota Ave. 12/7/09
Lemon Drop, 5 Minnesota Ave., 11/12/09
The Curiosity Shoppe, 25 N.W. Minnesota Ave, Suite #7. 11/5/09
Wabi Sabi 11/4/09 (**Moved, Wall St.**)
Frugal Boutique 11/4/09
5 Spice 10/22/09
Cowgirls Cash 10/17/09
***Haven Home 10/17/09
Dog Patch 10/17/09
The Good Drop 10/12/09
Lola's 9/23/09
**Volcano Wines 9/15/09
Singing Sparrow Flowers 8/16/09
Northwest Home Interiors 8/5/09
High Desert Frameworks 7/23/09 (*Moved to Oregon Ave. 4/5/10.)
Wall Street Gifts 7/--/09
Ina Louise 7/14/09
Bend Home Hardware (Homestyle Hardware?) 7/1/09
Altera Real Estate 6/9/09
Honey 6/7/09
Azura Studio 6/7/09
Mary Jane's 6/1/09
c.c.McKenzie 6/1/09
Velvet 5/28/09
Bella Moda 3/25/09
High Desert Gallery (Bend) 3/25/09
Joolz
Zydeco
900 Wall
Great Outdoor Store
Luxe Home Interiors
Powell's Candy
Dudley's Used Books and Coffee
Goldsmith
Game Domain
Subway Sandwiches
Bend Burger Company
Showcase Hats
Pita Pit
Happy Nails

(List begun, Fall, 2008.)

BUSINESSES LEAVING

Bond Street Grill, Bond St., 11/20/12.
Mad Happy Lounge, Brooks St., 10/11.
Azu, Wall St., 10/25/11.
Showcase Hats, Oregon Av., 10/11.
Bourbon St., Minnesota Ave. 10/12/11.
Curiosity Shop, Minnesota Ave., 7/11
Luluemon, Bond St., 8/26, 11.
Shear Illusions, Franklin Ave., 7/11.
Crepe Place, Wall St., 7/11.
Pita Pit, Brooks St. , 6/28/11
Smith and Wade Salon, Minnesota, Av. , 6/3/11.
Perspectives, Minnesota Av., 6/1/11
River Bend Art Gallery, Bond St., 5/5/11.
Donner's Flowers, Wall St. 3/11/11. (**Moved out of downtown**)
Maryjanes, Wall St. , 3/11/11. (new name, Tryst, moved to Franklin.).
Di Lusso, Franklin/Bond, 2/9/11.
Earth Sense Herbs, Penny's Galleria, 1/2/11
Marz Bistro, Minnesota Av., 12/20/10.
The Decoy, Bond St., 12/7/10.
Giuseppe's, Bond St., 12/1/10.
Ina Louise, Minnesota Ave., 11/3/10.
Laughing Girl Studios, 10/21/10
Dolce Vita, Bond St, 10/21/10
Diana's Jewell Box, Minnesota Ave., 10/15/10.
Lola's, Breezeway, 10/8/10.
Oxygen Tattoo, Bond St., 10/3/10.
Great Outdoor Clothing, Wall St., 10/3/10.
Volcano Vineyards, Minnesota Ave., 10/3/10.
Subway Sandwiches, Bond St. 9/2/10.
Old Bend Distillery, Brooks St., 6/19/10.
Staccato, Minnesota Ave. 6/18/10.
Showcase Hats, Minnesota Ave., 6/1/10 (Moved to Oregon Ave., 8/10/11.)
Cork, Oregon Ave., 5/27/10.
Wall Street Gifts, 5/26/10
Microsphere, Wall St. , 5/17/10.
Singing Sparrow, Franklin and Bond, 5/15/10
28, Minnesota Ave. and Bond, 5/13/10.
Glass Symphony, Wall St., 3/25/10
Bend Home Hardware, Minnesota Ave, 2/25/10
Ciao Mambo, Wall St. 2/4/10
***Angel Kisses 1/25/10 (Have moved to 'Honey.')
Ivy Rose Manor 8/20/09
***Downtowner 8/18/09 (moving into the Summit location)
Chocolate e Gateaux 8/16/09
Finders Keepers 8/15/09
Colourstone 7/25/09
Periwinkle 6/--/09
***Tangerine 7/21/09 (Got word, they are moving across the street.)
Micheal Cassidy Gallery 6/15/09
St. Claire Coffee 6/15/09
Luxe Home Interiors 6/4/09
Treefort 5/8/09
Blue 5/2/09
***Volcano Tasting Room 4/28/09** Moved to Minnesota Ave.
Habit 4/16/09
Mountain Comfort 4/14/09
Tetherow Property 4/11/09
Blue Moon Marketplace 3/25/09
Plenty 3/25/09
Downtown Doggie 3/25/09
***King of Sole (became Mary Janes)**
Santee Alley
Bistro Corlise
Made in Hawaii
EnVogue
Stewart Weinmann (leather)
Kebanu Gallery
Pella Doors and Windows
Olive company
Pink Frog
Little Italy
Deep
Merenda's
Volo
***Pomegranate (downtown branch)**
Norwalk
Pronghorn Real Estate office.
Speedshop Deli
Paper Place
Bluefish Bistro

(List begun, Fall 2008.)

A simple plot.

2011-12-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

I woke up this this storyline in my head:

"You know the saying that even paranoids have enemies? Well, that's what this blog is about. Someone is trying to kill me and no one believes me...

I'm not quite certifiable. I can carry on my normal day. Even my wife thinks this is some kind of long con joke.

But it's true.

If you find me dead, you'll know I was murdered."

Maybe I can continue this story -- maybe not -- but I thought I'd write it down. Probably not terribly original, but if it I were to continue, it would be an attempt to make it as believable as possible.

I've always admired the book, "A Simple Plan" because the premise is so believable and simple and everything flows from it:

*** While out hunting, three friends find a crashed airplane with a bag of money in it. If they take the money, no one will ever know. All they have to do is be smart and patient....***

This time, that space.

2011-12-09T08:37:00.001-08:00

I'm slowly but surely adding authors to my stock.

Next order -- I'm going to order every Lee Child and Wilbur Smith paperback available.

I'm just going to MAKE you buy because I have it, dammit!

**********

I'm suddenly getting some high profile Twitter followers --well, high profile for the nerd world. Star Wars Insider, CLINT magazine, etc.

What does this mean? Do they just follow everyone? Did one of my tweets get passed around? Is there any way of knowing?

UPDATE: Jerad says they're just fishing for followers.

O.K.

**********

Linda was late picking up Dad. "I just lost track of time and space," she says.

"Einstein says, time and space are connected."

Blank look.

"If you're here, at this time, you can't be there, at this time."

Blanker look.

Hey, I thought it was a pretty good explanation.

Leave and learn.

2011-12-09T07:51:00.001-08:00

So a guy from Redmond robs a bank in Bend, where people know him. I was told by a customer that the people at the bank even knew his name!

I'd say that's a cry for help.

**********

I have about 4 sites that I go to daily that recommend books. Either stellar reviews or best-of lists or simple mentions that sound intriguing. I'd have to say, about 20 books on average per site. (Actually, way more than that, but I'll limit it to significant profiles.)

If I was just to order 10% of just those books, it would be 8 books a day, 240 books a month. With, say, an average retail price of 20.00 (being newer books, most are hardcover or trade paperback), that would by 4800.00 a month in just those books. Just four sites I happen to visit, just 2 books per site.

That's not including all the replacement books, the automatic purchases of certain authors, the best-sellers, and -- well, just every fricken book that's ever been published up to the day...

I get the feeling that people have no real idea not only how many books there are, but how many really good and interesting books there are.

It can get kind of silly at Christmas. People come in with ridiculously specific and obscure titles. Sometimes I even have them! But they walk away, thinking they'll find it elsewhere, to which I really want to blurt: "Dude! Not only won't you find this book cheaper. You flat out won't find this book!"

Leave and learn. (I just made that up. "Leave and Learn." So pleased with myself today.)

(Leave my store and learn how hard it is to buy it elsewhere. Instant Karma.)

**********

So I stocked up on boardgames. Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Catan, and many others. Multiple copies of the major games, one or two of most of the rest.

I have people window shopping, which is fine, I guess.

But there is a chance I'll get a run on some of these games and there won't be time to reorder. This waiting until the last week is problematic on stocking levels-- but hey, maybe it's the only thing that gives us Christmas business at all. Everyone orders online until the last 10 days, then they HAVE to buy from us locals.

Heh.

**********

"Midnight in Paris," is still running in town. What? Did the theater accidentally buy the film print?

**********

"Up to my neck in Dragon turds."

2011-12-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

I wake up with little sayings, or plot developments. It's really kind of a wonderful thing.

I woke up with the phrase, "Up to my neck in Dragon turds," which I like so much I'm thinking I'll title each of the chapters if I can come up with enough clever sayings.

"Dragons are Mean." Is another one I liked.

The other day, I came up with the title of my next book. "The Case of the Lovelorn Gargoyle."
I even had a kind of vision of an Eeyore type (in personality) character who comes to Cobb for help. Which turns into another apocalyptic situation.

If you say so.

2011-12-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

"Business Insider" says Bend will be the best housing market over the next five years.

Uh.....if you say so.

I'm posting this so that I might get some second opinions from some of the other bubble bloggers. This seems based on nothing more than the fact that we've dropped so far....which seems like a dubious reason.

What say you?

Two stores, ten times the work.

2011-12-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

Interesting article on a Bend downtown business opening a second store in downtown Redmond. "Extending The Blvd." Bulletin, 12/8/11.

I won't presume to second-guess this decision. (Well, one small quibble -- if they just opened the Bend store in July, 2010, that's awfully quick expansion.) I will assume that they have a solid plan and are well capitalized.

What caught my attention was this statement: "...it is fairly unusual to have a local store in Both Bend and Redmond..." In fact, they could only name one other small business -- Bella Moda.

I would add, that I know several businesses that actually have second outlets in Eugene and Portland.

I can speak with some experience here -- I had a store on 6th St. in downtown Redmond in the early 90's. (As well as stores in Sisters and the Mountain View Mall.) This was mostly due to an absolutely red hot product --that turned out to be a bubble in the end, but had some busy years. (See Andy -- I didn't mention sports cards....oops.)

Anyway, the idea at the time was to spread the copious inventory I was accumulating. I'd buy cases of cards to get the best price, and it made sense to spread the risk.

What I didn't see was the old 20/80 rule: 20% of your product will make 80% of your profits. Turns out, the 20% wasn't so easy to get or easy to spread out, and no one really wanted the other 80%. Turns out, as well, that the costs of managing the stores ate up all the profits.

Turns out, each store will provide one to one and half incomes -- less than the old Mom and Pop, model actually. So when Linda has one store, and I have another -- it works.

Anyway, when the sport card bubble collapsed, I retrenched to my downtown Bend store -- doubling it in size so it wouldn't look like a complete defeat. We managed to sell the mall store, which was still profitable.

Funny thing was, I learned that having a store in Bend and Redmond is a little bit like An Appointment at Samara: you try to avoid your fate, but it happens anyway.

I would spend a morning going to my Sisters and Redmond stores -- supplying them with material -- and then drop by the Mountain View Mall store and see my Sisters and Redmond customers at the counter....

I will admit, it was a very different time. Back then, Redmond was much, much smaller. But then again, the competition level was lower as well. The chainstores didn't really store stomping in to Central Oregon until about 1992 and thereafter.

Anyway, thems the fruits of my experience.

Exposure. Thanks for nuttin.

2011-12-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Once again I'm hearing the old 'exposure' argument from my business 'partners' further up the food chain.

Exposure of comics in the digital realm will lead customers to comic shops, they tell me.

This is one of those ideas that sound pretty good on the outside, but are complete bullshit.

I've heard it presented as an excuse for my suppliers to give special consideration to outlets bigger than me -- mass market or internet and now digital -- a hundred times over the last 30 years, and it has NEVER happened.

It doesn't work that way, except in the most general sense of -- the bigger the scene, the more likely I'll sell something. But what happens most often is, the smaller stores like mine actually develop the market until it's big enough for the larger entities to take over. NOT the other way around.

If the product is in bigger stores, than that exposure turns to sales in bigger stores. It doesn't make people turn around and go shop at the smaller store.

Exposure? I had hordes of folk in my store buying beanie babies, and pokemon, and pogs -- but as soon as they were through buying them, they were gone.

Comic exposure? With all the media attention and the big tent movies, anyone who doesn't know that comics are here has three slabs of concrete around their brains and nothing short of a wrecking ball will break through. (And yes there are a number of those people.)

It's much the same reasoning as the downtown festivals. "Sure, you lose sales on the day of the event, but you are 'exposed' to new customers!" I'm told, to which I want to say -- "Wait. They are there. They are downtown. Nothing is keeping them from buying on that day and they don't. But they will turnaround and remember you in a week and make a special trip to the store they passed over while they were there?"

Customers will buy where they see something and where they are. Fine. Don't pretend that it's good for me that Walmart has it....

Exposure. Blech.

What? Says the N.Y. Fed. There was a bubble?

2011-12-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

If these are the guys in charge, we're in big trouble.

See, I thought the following was a given. Acknowledged by all. Understood.

But, then again, I watched the Bubble from Ground Zero -- Bend, ever-lovin Oregon.

"Flip This House”: Investor Speculation and the Housing Bubble

Andrew Haughwout, Donghoon Lee, Joseph Tracy, and Wilbert van der Klaauw

The recent financial crisis—the worst in eighty years—had its origins in the enormous increase and subsequent collapse in housing prices during the 2000s. While the housing bubble has been the subject of intense public debate and research, no single answer has emerged to explain why prices rose so fast and fell so precipitously. In this post, we present new findings from our recent New York Fed study that uses unique data to suggest that real estate “investors”—borrowers who use financial leverage in the form of mortgage credit to purchase multiple residential properties—played a previously unrecognized, but very important, role. These investors likely helped push prices up during 2004-06; but when prices turned down in early 2006, they defaulted in large numbers and thereby contributed importantly to the intensity of the housing cycle’s downward leg.

Really? Who'd have thunk it.

It was a Bubble, big guys. What part of the phenomenon don't you understand?

They act as though, the fact that "prices rose so fast and fell so precipitously" was a big mystery.

And that they are surprised, surprised I tell you!, that investor speculation was a main factor.

"...previously unrecognized?" Good lord.

In my experience, Speculation is the Major cause of any and all Bubbles. And the speculation in the housing market wasn't just investors in multiple houses -- it was buyers making bad deals and buying bigger houses than they could afford, with the idea that the house would increase in price and allow them to afford it later. Speculation, whether acknowledged or understood at the time.

Are the Fed really so clueless?

Or is this some kind of P.R. bullshit?

Make way! Make way!

2011-12-06T08:42:00.001-08:00

Another digital brouhaha in the comic world. Dark Horse announced same day and date release of their comics, following the examples of DC and Marvel and several other smaller companies. But they implied they were going to sell their digital versions cheaper.

After a day of outrage from the retailers, Mike Richardson released a statement that comics wouldn't decrease in price for the first month. (But retailers still pointed out that they are selling most of their print comics for 3.50; and because Amazon wants prices to end at -99, they will be selling most comics for 2.99.)

Anyway, the general thrust is pretty clear. The handwriting is on the wall.

I still think that the comic companies are making a huge mistake actually facilitating this change, instead of delaying it, but it doesn't matter what I think.

Each of the companies are going about it in a slightly different way; Marvel is enclosing digital codes in it's comics; DC has contracted with a specific company to set up an account with; Dark Horse and IDW and others are more open, to Amazon among others.

I think that if this weren't being pushed, that reader erosion would be minimal for the first few years. Even with the pushing, I still don't believe it will be a landslide. But, yeah. If you offer it, they will come.

My response is to recognize reality and move on. Make way for another way of doing business. That doesn't mean I've given up, or anything.

It reminds me of the sports card debacle. When the card companies started offering product cheaper through the mass market (this was pre-internet, but it was the same dynamic or worse), I encouraged my fellow retailers NOT to buy this product from them. To cut their orders to only what they could sell. To not engage in cut throat, suicidally competitive practices. As far as I know, I'm the only card dealer I know of that made the necessary steps early on. Most just went off the cliff.

Ironically, my response has been to double down on the other product in the store; games, toys, cards, anime and manga, and especially new and used books. It's ironic, because most of these product lines are already in the marginal zone that I expect comics to be in five years or so.

My response is to make maximum use of the fact that I'm in a downtown tourist zone, by carrying a wide and deep variety of material -- even in product lines that have been thoroughly exploited by the internet and the mass market. I need to have the possibility of a sale to anyone who walks in the door, and make sure those someones actually walk through door and see something they want.

It's not an ideal solution, but I have a lot of confidence in my ability to pick the kind of stuff that people will buy -- even though the internet and the mass market might already have it. I have to be smart in my buying and my selling. The hill just gets a little steeper every year, but you know what? It's always been that way.

All the beautiful books.

2011-12-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

Oh, man. There are a lot of books.

I am resistant to 'best-seller' lists, but I'm a sucker for 'best-of' lists.

I go to sites like Flavorwire or Shelf Awareness, and they show the cover to a book and I want it. They list books in a theme, and I want them all. They mention a book that is "like" other books and I got to have it.

I have a feeling that there is some quid pro quo going on in some of these lists. Reviews and ads do seem to coincide a lot. But if they seem cool, I guess maybe that doesn't matter.

Just looking at the liquidation sites, it's amazing how many cool books seem to have fallen between the cracks of publishing and selling. Good looking books, with interesting subjects, but obviously they didn't sell enough.

There's room for only a few at the top -- and they aren't always the best, obviously. In fact, the reason I don't look at the best-sellers lists is because they are mostly atrocious. I'd say about half of the books are readable, and maybe thirty percent are good. As a general rule.

Pulp, and faux literature. (This is not to say, genre -- to me genre can be as good as anything Oprah recommends, and often better -- no, I'm talking about the lowest common denominator of these types of books.) The hardest thing for me to do is not roll my eyes when someone says they like a horrible author. (And here, I'm not actually talking about the quality of the writing so much as the sleazy, jump on the bandwagon, calculating nature of so many best sellers.)

Meanwhile, there's a book over there that is totally original. But I can't sell it, because the customer has never heard of it.

I can't read all these books -- but I can get a general sense of them. I use that instinct to buy books, and my store reflects that. If I'm right, I'll sell enough of them. If I'm wrong....

Well, I can't be wrong.

The book I want it to be.

2011-12-05T09:50:00.000-08:00

I've decided to hold off writing the last chapter to my book, until I've rewritten all the chapters that lead up to it.

For one thing, the ending incorporates creatures and characters that still need to be fleshed out. Actually, some don't even exist yet, except as a general idea.

Holidays are a really tough time for me to write, especially because I'm in retail. I've gotten a humongous amount of product at the store over the last couple of weeks that I've been dealing with. Holiday party for writers group, the article in the paper -- doesn't take much to throw me off.

So I've decided to spend the month making notes --which has to be done anyway -- and then sitting down in the first 10 days of 2012 and rewriting.

I've got all kinds of aspirations for the second draft -- which is a start at least. I think you kind of have to have to aspirations before you can have the results.

A book spends a lot of time in my mind as a entity that doesn't exist, full of fun and emotion and suspense -- the image, in a vague way, of what I WANT it to be.

The actual book is a whole nother thing -- but I think it's important to have that image in mind.

Pinched nerve, ouch....blah, blah, blah.

2011-12-05T09:45:00.001-08:00

I was just getting ready to brag that I haven't had back or neck problems for a couple years now -- since I changed the position I sleep and --for neck problems -- not drinking before bed.

Then, yesterday, I was casually putting books away at my store, and I felt the nerve in my back pinch.

Same nerve as always.

The first time it happened, about 25 years ago, I was laid low. I couldn't move off the couch.

Each time I get it now, it's a little less dire. I can pretty much function now. I take an Aleve immediately, and then just try not to move much -- nothing I can do but wait it out.

I'm pretty sure this is the most uninteresting blog I've ever written....

Sunday suds.

2011-12-04T13:24:00.001-08:00

Remember when the Ducks couldn't get into a bowl game at all? When having a winning record seemed impossible?

The Rose Bowl was a dream.

National Championship? Don't make me laugh.

So when the Ducks have a season where the consolation prize is the Rose Bowl, I guess we shouldn't feel too bad.

Meanwhile, a Bend school winning the state football championship. That too hasn't been likely for years. Bigger schools, bigger talent pool in the valley. (Yeah, well I suppose there are always Black Swans like Prineville, and that team that Gene Hackman coached in Indiana).

**********

Twilight Breaking Dawn. The reviews made this so utterly unappealing, that I doubt I'll ever see it. (I did watch the first three movies because I could fit them over a weekend...)

Meanwhile -- go see Hugo. Really. A great movie.

**********

Can we root for Tiger as an underdog now?

***********

Linda has a cold, for the second time this season.

I managed to avoid the last one against all odds. I'm not so sanguine about me chances this time.

Wishful thinking.

2011-12-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich has always looked like a fat cat to me. Put some whiskers on him.

(Linda: "yeah, one of those pampered pudgy fat cats with scrunched faces...)

**********

The news of a unemployment rate dropping was tempered by the fact that so many people dropped out of the workforce.

But isn't this a constant? Aren't they always dropping out?

I'm assuming from the news that this was an extraordinary number not a ordinary number of dropouts, but they don't make it very clear.

**********

If I may be a Grinch. The Black Friday sales increase is somewhat of an illusion.

First, for many stores, there is the little matter of cutting margins. (They don't cut margins -- I'm guessing -- as much as they lead the customers to believe, there is some calculation going on there, but....) Higher sales and lower profits just means you have to restock the stores. Or not. Which is why there are shortages, when the stores are in doubt.

Secondly, I think a whole lot of these sales are 'borrowed' from future days. The week after Black Friday is usually dreadfully slow, so slow that you wondered if it doesn't just average out.

**********

It's a bit of a dangerous dynamic that's been created -- by the mass market, and we small stores have to fall in line.

We have become very dependent on the last week before Christmas.

One of these years there is going to be an event-- knock wood -- such as a natural disaster, a storm of the century, an attack, something that will glue everyone to the T.V. for a week.

Ironically, this will have a bigger impact on the big stores, instead of stores like mine for which the Christmas season is a boost, but not the be all and end all.

And like I said, the mass market created this dynamic through shortsighted thinking.

**********

I was talking about these kinds of things with a customer the other day, and he mentioned a Discovery show about how it used to cost the equivalent of a house, or something, to get a suit of handmade armor.

Well, sure.

I'm not advocating for a return to the days when everything was handmade.

Like most things in life, I'm advocating moderation. A happy medium. Some kind of balance.

But that's capitalism -- there is no such thing. There are always people who push to the extremes, whether it's in the best interest of the market as a whole or not.

I know this -- and wishing for people to be wise and moderate is just wishful thinking.

best minimum wage job a middle aged guy ever had

Big surprise -- having half your market in two stores isn't a good idea.

Or is it two steps forward, three steps back?

Drinking quit me.

Three steps forward, two steps back?

Roll your own. Really?

getting ready to get started getting going on beginning

Getting serious about finishing.

Friday fuds.

Not an ounce of integrity.

Tough patootie, artists!

Just going about my business.

Tuesday tings.

Small business cycles are both conservative -- and liberal.

It's not easy being a liberal.

The bad news is....the good news is...

Sunday suds.

Oh, yeah. THAT's why I don't do that.

Kick ass movies.

Planning for temporary disasters.

It's still Poverty with a View as far as I can see.

Talkin' to my friend Noah....

When Bend was Bend.

Just write the damn book.

Reading as Escapism

I'm smarter than the Fed.

2011 Pegasus Books results.

Sunday T.V. is the Bee's Knee's.

Buy the stuff that sells, sell the stuff they buy.

First the store, then the promotion.

Sunday suds.

Arguing against the obvious.

The Gordian Book-knot.

Love the book, hate the writer.

Whoopee! 0.1% rise in sales.

It is called a "Perp Walk."

"Executive Director of Business Development."

#*(^%(&* Insomnia!

The past becomes nearer.

Inked stained scrivener. Virtual, that is.

"I like being able to fire people."

For profit non-profits...or non-profit profits. Common Table.

Christmas results.

Downtown Comings and Goings. 1/9/12.

Have begun the rewrite.

A good result.

Sat. Shots

The future's so bright, we need to pull shades.

Take the Nook out, and you've got another Borders.

Writing for the write reasons.

Thursday thunks.

The Star Axe made real.

No -- what you know is wrong.

Sons of Anarchy (**Spoilers**)

Do I talk about the end of the year, or the beginning?

Never mind the bullets.

Happy New Year everyone!

The corporate meatgrinder.

Selling what no one wants.

It's time to get started on my 2011 projects.

Wed. wats.

A "wide range of merchandise" ?

"Sons of Anarchy" Christmas.

The "Retro" store.

Christmas wishes.

Christmas Eve is a drug.

We're open all day.

Bank robbers...our new industry.

A Bookish Proclamation.

Christmas business update.

Rushing to nowhere.

Downtown Abbey. err....downton.

Dis and dat.

What'd we do?

Sunday suds.

Slate has jumped the shark.

Is Christmas here yet?

A washboard road.

Still catching up to us?

The Kindness of Strangers.

#(^%(& Insomnia!

Sons of Anarchy (Spoilers)