"That's more like it!"

Does anyone else do this? I have my route to the store timed to the second -- well, at least to the minute.

It takes me 15 minutes from my front door to the parking garage -- if I hit slow traffic and the beginning of every red light.

Subtract roughly two minutes for every red light I miss, and I can get to the parking garage in about 8 or 9 minutes.

Since I usually hit at least one green light, or a couple of half red lights, I usually have a minute or two left over to walk to the store....

Heh. If not, I'm the owner -- and two minutes late is the owner's prerogative.

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The Source has a "commentary": "Will Books Survive?"

Thing is, they don't talk to a single local bookseller.

I don't say it has to be me -- in fact, I would rather it not be me. But we have at least 6 booksellers in Bend, and another 3 or 4 outside of Bend. How hard can it be?

I mean, The Source is the local weekly, and if local isn't the focus of their coverage, then what are they good for? I mean, what a local weekly can do that no one else can do, is get local coverage.

Thought pieces? I can get all those I want online.

What I can't get online is the local specificity. (Also, makes a better story with some flavor and color...)

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Had a friend come in and tell me he's worried about me.

"You just don't seem as angry, anymore," he said. "I used to like how you were always outraged...."

He accused me of having enough "screw you" money to quit worrying.

Well -- sorta, kinda. I mean, being stressed all the time about the next paycheck can't be good for me, even if it is amusing to some people. I'm still worried about money -- but not scared to death. The store itself is stable -- one of the great ironies, is that the store was coming together after all those struggling years, just as the economy was fading. So the internals of the store were strong enough to overcome the external weaknesses. (It helped that I prepared for the bust, and saw it coming...)

Also ironic, is that I was just moving away from the "minimum wage" motif, just as I started writing this blog -- but it would be a little silly to add the words "slightly more than" minimum wage job.

I'm able to take some time off from the store these days, and without apologies. The way I can keep this store going is to continue to turn a profit -- and still have fun with it.

Anyway...

We got to talking about politics, and I started getting upset, and he said, "That's more like it!"