Just what's going on.

Sunday felt like my first real day off in a long time.

I feel a need to get back to my core interests, one of which is reading, and I've been on a bookish jag lately and it feels good.

Liz opened the store yesterday. Don't know how well she did -- probably not too very, what with the snow. I'm hoping that I can earn enough on Sundays to pay for most of the employee wages -- not counting Cost of Goods, which since I'm not probably changing my ordering levels, probably don't matter. (Yes, if I sell an evergreen product on a Sunday, I probably should subtract it from the total -- which is one of the reasons I was willing to drop Sundays....oh, hell, it's complicated.)

Also got my personal room squared away. My family commissioned a painting of my Mom's garden on Roanoke Avenue before she died. My sister Tina has made copies, prints that look like an oil painting, for all the kids, and I put mine up on the wall yesterday. It is very evocative of that 'lost garden' and very nostalgic. I need to get the info about the artist and what the painting represents, and have it taped to the back and pass it along to my kids.

We were going to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Pine Tavern, but Tina's condition has worsened and her daughter Mattie flew home from Chicago, so we'll probably get the turkey somewhere else and have it at her house. Tina's MRI was clear, but she's having difficulty, and they don't really know what's causing it. It's tough to see my strong, vibrant sister laid so low; and I was so angry at myself for not understanding what she was trying to say to me. I felt like I was letting her down. It's hard because I just want to hang out with her, but she gets tired. She seems at peace listening to her friends and family jabber around her.

This month at the store, I've sort of let nature take it's course. Too much else going on. Sales are way down, and it may be my worst month since the beginning of the downturn. I don't think it's because I've taken my eye off the ball -- I'm still fully engaged, and I'm there 5 days a week, so it's not like I'm slacking. I'm thinking that a real recovery hasn't arrived, despite my good September and early October, and I'm now preparing for next year as though it will be at least as bad as this year.

I'll have more to say about that at the end of the month. I got a small windfall from Linda, and so financially I'm pretty solid, but still....I'm kind of disappointed.

I made a huge boardgame order this Christmas, especially of the main three games, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne, and all the spinoffs. I'm hoping to see a repeat of the demand I saw this summer, and if it doesn't happen I'll be well stocked for next year. As I said, I ordered one case (six boxes) of Magic too much; about 20% too much, which is a quantity that will probably take me though the next year to sell. But I really didn't want to get caught short.

My planning has been a bit different. Because our financial situation has changed, I no longer feel the need to make so much money that I pay for my IRA, my taxes, AND enough money to retire on. Now I NEED to make enough money for my overhead and living, and my taxes, and I WANT to make enough for my IRA, but I'm not as concerned with making more money beyond that. So that gives me the freedom to hire my little employees. The hours are still less than what my previous employee was doing; but it should give me the freedom to get away for a few days at a time, and maybe even a week in the summer.

The relative security changes the dynamic somewhat -- for instance, ordering enough product for longer periods of time, making sure I don't run out. That's a real luxury, but not a foolish luxury as long as it's legitimate product. As long as I don't make speculative purchases, it should help the store in the long run.

I managed, once again, to receive a huge graphic novel order in and find space for it. I seem to have a real talent for consolidation, for finding space I didn't think I had. But, damn, is the store packed.

Just what's going on.

A Turning Point.

I'll be keeping this entry short and directing those of you with stout hearts and strong stomachs and feeble minds and a hazy grasp on political correctness over to Bend Bubble 2 for Paul-do's last Rant.

Don't know why he's so eager to quit. Seems like he has much to say still; and say and say and $&^^^#&% say.

I guess I'm the last of the Bend bubble bloggers, now.

Never mind the Viper.

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I had several different people during the boom years tell me I should get 'into' the housing game. I suppose, since I own a business, they actually thought I had money.

Anyway, about the time someone like me is told I should get 'into' something, is about the time someone like me shouldn't get 'into' something.

People were telling me it was stupid of me to be leasing a store space instead of buying. But even then I was aware that the time to buy commercial real estate was looonnnggg past.

If someone tells you it's "easy", run don't walk the other way....

I feel really fortunate that I had a real estate guy lead me to a good mortgage broker and I got the standard 30 year fixed rate with taxes and insurance included. I wasn't all that aware of the dangers back then, but I knew I wanted a 'fixed' rate.

I was also fortunate that because we started shopping in January, 2004, with snow still on the ground, we were more or less paying 2003 prices -- the big run-up in prices started only a couple of months after we finalized the purchase.

Our home equity line of credit, (a year and half later) however, was a little too manipulated. Interest only for five years -- we're fortunate that we'll be able to pay it in full before it comes due. I'm intending to pay off our house in 15 years, instead of 30. And I'm going to absolutely insist that I be allowed to make two payments per month. I've asked over the phone, but nothing came of it.

Handing them a big check ought to have a salutary effect. But I'll keep going up the channels until I get it done.

All this is a roundabout way of commenting on the recent arrests of Desert Sun people.

If there is one thing that owning my own business has taught me is that nothing is easy; that immediate gratification usually has a higher price in the long run. I think there was a lot of smudging of economic details (doing it on a computer you don't see the tale-tell erasures on the income line) going on just about everywhere by just about everyone.

How bad do you have to be to stand out in that out of control system?

Bad enough to drive around in a Ferrari and a Viper.

How stupid do you have to be to be caught?

Stupid enough to buy a speed boat.

Selling houses. In Bend.

Yeah, no one would notice that.

Oh....NOW I see.

What can one know about a town theseadays, just driving around?

I think maybe in the old days it was a bit easier. There would be the downtown district, usually consisting of retail; surrounded by a halo of churches and old government buildings, then housing and rentals. In the heights and along the river would be money; and across the railroad tracks would be light industrial and poorer housing.

That sound about right?

When I say we stayed in Vallejo, that was just a zip code. Really, it was in an interstate exit, with box stores and newer retail.

Vallejo itself, when we finally found it, was pretty sad. We stopped for coffee at Starbucks (my first experience -- very impressive), and that again was in a little upscale conclave. Sub-divisions have become the real towns.

What I noticed -- and if I'm wrong, I'll be glad for anyone to enlighten me who knows Northern California better than me -- is that downtowns were either completely run down, or completely upscale. No in-betweens. Run down or shuttered stores, lots of antique (junk) stores; lots of iron bars in the windows. Or the opposite -- upscale touristy type stores.

Most of the traffic was in the areas that are equivalent to 3rd St. here in Bend -- strip malls and chains. Lots of cookie cutter mass market centers. And I do mean, they look EXACTLY the same no matter what town you go to.

San Francisco didn't feel comfortable to me until we got out of the downtown district, and especially the red light (by that, I mean porn shops and hock shops) and mission districts, and got close to Lois's house.

Towns, too, seem to divide between upscale and run down. Napa and Benicia were upscale, Vallejo was run-down. Downtown Napa has been converted into a little Big Box center, and didn't appeal to me at all.

We finally found a local who knew something, and who could give good directions, and we found the only bookstore in all of the Napa valley, or in Vallejo, or in Fairfield, or the surrounding areas; according to both the locals and the yellow pages. Everywhere we went, we got the same answer: "There 'used to be' a bookstore..." It's very possible that the locals just don't know; but the Yellow Pages has a free listing, and there weren't any bookstores in there....

Hard to believe that there isn't an old book exchange or maybe just a small type used bookstore run by a semi-retired person or something. I suppose the answer could be that everyone drives into S.F. proper, but with traffic the way it is, that seems crazy.

Copperfield Books in Napa was nice, and apparently they sell used books in their Santa Rafael store, which we didn't get to. But there still appeared to be about half a million or more souls unserved by a used bookstore. And yet little old Shasta had two of them.

To get into the more politically incorrect observations; the minority I expected to see, Hispanic, I didn't much see. But like the blind monks examining an elephant, I'm sure there were many parts I didn't see or observe. Lots and lots of Asians in San Francisco, and Vallejo seemed very black.

The weather was moderate for the whole trip; but it wasn't nice enough to make up for the traffic.

I know these probably aren't terribly original observations; but they come from a native Oregonian whose probably only been to that area half a dozen times in my life.

Coming back to Bend, you can't help but notice how clean and nice it feels. Even 3rd St.

Oh...Now I see.

I can totally understand why Californian's want to move here.

A-wandering S.F.

Well, it's good to get out of town and visit someplace very different to get a perspective.

As I said yesterday, my memory of the trip to San Francisco will be traffic, traffic, traffic. I'll never complain about traffic in Bend again. I'll never ask where people learned to tailgate again.

Of course, most people probably don't travel 1200 miles in three days, either. But still....traffic. I would so want out of there....

I also am reminded that I seem to have very little travel stamina. Amazing that people travel so much without wearing themselves out while they 'vacation.' But again, the 1200 miles.

Linda's new car has plenty of juice, and drives very smoothly. I finally became a convert to auto-pilot (cruise control) on the way back. However, it seems to me to be a recipe for napping: adjustable seats, cruise control, HEATED seats -- all it is missing is a massage vibrator.

We finally turned on the stereo about halfway back, and the music was great, but I still like the silence more. We forgot to take any CD's.

The car had 150 miles on it when we bought it, and I joked to Linda that someone had returned the car because the radio only brought in Christian stations. I mean, I'd be listening to some peppy, or rocky tune, that I didn't recognize, and finally realize it was Christian rock. Which to me, is a sheep in wolf's clothing.

What's with that?

Trouble is, I haven't listened to commercial radio for so long, I don't actually know what they play. Finally settled on a 'oldies' station, but when they started playing too many bland songs in a row, turned it off.

We left Bend around noon on Sunday, though Linda was itching to get going sooner. She had booked a room at a Comfort Inn in Vallejo, because she didn't want to face the freeways of S.F., looking for our turnoff, at night.

As we approached the California border, I asked if they still at the "Fruit Control" stations. Linda said, "Yeah, I had an apple and banana, and they said those were O.K. They aren't the fruit they're looking for."

This kept going through my head as I approached the station, so I rolled down my window and I Waved my Hand at the young female ranger girl, and said, in a portentous tone, "These are not the fruit you're looking for."

The cute ranger girl blinked, and grinned fixedly, and said, "Oh....O.K."

"Move along..." I said.

"Oh...." she said, backing up an inch or too. "O.K. then!"

Probably not very funny, but Linda and laughed for a good 20 miles afterwards.

We try to visit as many bookstores as we can on these trips, so we stopped in Shasta, which is a Sisters-like town, and checked out the two stores there. Then turned off in Dunsmuir and checked it out.

The traffic really is amazing down there. Here it was, Sunday night, and the freeway was packed. 2 lanes turned into 3 lanes into 4 lanes into 5 lanes into 6 lanes. I didn't know they had 6 lane freeways.

We found our motel pretty easily, and tried to activate the air conditioner though the clerk thought we were crazy. In fact, when we went by the desk in the morning, the guy had his heater blasting even though it felt like a nice fall day outside. In fact, it was perfect weather as far as I'm concerned -- not too hot, not too cold.

As I said yesterday, we drove into the financial district of S.F. the next morning, checked out the safe deposit box, and then drove toward Lois's place. We had hamburgers at a place called Tower Burgers -- best burger I've had in years.

Then met the 'stager' at Lois's place. In my opinion, the stager was becoming more of a renovator. My own feelings was that Lois had a 'frozen in time' townhouse, with all kinds of funky features -- from the '50's and 60's -- and my instinct would've been to play up those features, instead of changing them. The remodeled kitchen -- O.K., I get that, but the lady seemed determined to change the space into a modern location, and with a fairly big chunk of money spent to get there...

She was pressing Linda to change the parcay flooring, but Linda told her to sand and buff.

We were told there was a little 'village' down the steep streets below Lois, so we went a-wandering until we found Glen Park. (Lois was between Glen Park and Meraloma and Sunnyside...) Found a nicely funky bookstore there called Bird and Beckett, and he gave us directions to other bookstores. We managed to find Ocean Books, but there was a long letter in the window that explained that the owner wasn't REALLY a stalker, no matter what we might have read in the paper, that she was only trying to TALK to the customer who complained to the police, and that she was sure that once she actually MET the customer everything would be ironed out and the CONFRONTATION was really just one big misunderstanding and going the customer's HOUSE and BANGING on the door probably hadn't been a good idea though it was INNOCENT.

We backed away slowly, and drove on.

Got to the ocean and turned off. After walking a distance, it became very very clear that this was a dog park, and we had dog after dog run up to us in a friendly way, and wag their tail as if to ask, "Hey, where's your dog?" I started watching where I was walking in the sand a bit more.

Then hit rush hour on the way back to Vallejo and spent, Oh, 15 or 20 hours to get fifty miles or so....

Watched Castle. Fell right to sleep.

Long walk to a shallow pond.

Of all things, Linda forgot to check Lois's safe deposit box while she was in S.F., so we decided to make a trip of it. We drove down on Sunday, stopping Vallejo. As is our custom, we checked for used bookstores, but there weren't any -- in a town one third bigger than Bend.

Next morning, we drove into the financial district. Parked just inside the borders and started walking and walking, got as far as the pyramid building and realized there was no way we'd finish up in time for the parking meter. Went back, found a parking garage, and -- and as it happened, found the Bank of America across the street.

The safe deposit boxes are downstairs, and after filling 15 forms in triplicate, they let us into the inner sanctum. I mean, that's what it felt like -- huge broad doors and paneled wood walls and echoes.

We open the safe deposit box and discover:

Lois was an international jewel thief and it was overflowing with diamonds and rubies.

Lois was a international money launderer and the there were stacks of one hundred dollar bills.

Lois was a master blackmailer and there were pictures of McCain and Palin you wouldn't believe.


It was empty.

The guy just laughed, and wrote across the closing form, "NIL".

Talk about anti-climatic.

A thousand miles in Linda's new car, and the both boring and terrifying freeways, and a memory of traffic and homeless people and traffic and more traffic. It was warm, though.

Mix and Match.

I've decided to try something different with employees this time.

I think I'm going to hire two or three young people who can work anywhere from half a day, to a day each; none of which are depending on me for a living, either because they already have another job, or are collecting unemployment, or who are still in school.

I won't expect a long term commitment from them, and I'll juggle their hours so that everyone is happy, but I'm not having to spend too much.

I want to keep a personal presence in the store of at least 4 days a week; which means there may be some overlap with the employees, but I want enough of workers to cover a few longer vacations per year.

I'm hoping that having 2 or 3 young people will bring some energy to the store.

I've already got three young folk lined up, who seem excited to be part of Pegasus. (They'll get over it...but I'd rather they at least start with some excitement.)

Liz has been great so far. She picks up things really fast. I have kind of decided to take a slower pace in training, letting employees learn things as they go, and try not to infect them too much with my attitudes and pre-conceptions.

If I try this method, there will probably be some inefficiencies at first, but there may also emerge some new ways of doing things. I can afford to take a different slant.

With 2 or 3 part-part timers, I can mix and match, and if one leaves, start looking for another.

We'll see.