The downtown tax district was approved last night.

I was mildly opposed to the first version of this, about a year ago. Mostly I didn't like the surveillance cameras, which they have very sensibly dropped.

It helps a great deal that Chuck Arnold, the executive director for the Bend Downtowners Association is a personable fellow, who has shown a low-key ability to build consensus and deal with problems.

It doesn't hurt that he comes by my store occasionally to chat. Simple thing, really, but it means a lot. One of the things I could never understand about the Mt. View Mall managers, was why they would hide in their office. Some of them I never met more than once. I always thought it would have been a huge public relations coup to simply take a walk-around through the mall, once a month, listen to the owners. Once a month, listen to us bitch, and move on.

Chuck's actions have pretty much confirmed that notion. I may not have any power in the Downtowners (I've only gone to one meeting in 24 years); but it probably doesn't hurt to keep me on his side anyway.

These positions tend to become self-sustaining after a while, whether the director is efficient and helpful or not. It could easily turn into a very political position where the money goes to help the most influential members of the downtown community. But I've decided it can't hurt, at roughly .01 a foot per month.

I also think it helps that Chuck actually ran a record store in L.A. for 5 years, so has a passing acquaintance with retail.

So, here's hoping that he brings an energetic and effective organization into reality.

There's a message over on the Bend Economy Bulletin Board, called; One Agent's Report. To recount it in full here would require that I reread it again, which might cause permanent brain damage, so I'll try to remember how it went:

Something along the lines of: Sales are down, prices are down, inventory has exploded.

It's a great time to buy!

Buy now before it too late!

This is your last chance, before prices begin to rise again and you are forever priced out of the market!

And, oh by the way, I have this huge foreclosure list I can show you!

You have to admire the agent's guts; he or she is basically bulletproof. Prices going up? Time to buy! Prices going down? Time to buy! Which makes sense in that agents make money when houses sell, and when you are taking a percentage, the actual price isn't as important.

Too much inventory means that there will be too little inventory!

You have to admire someone who so blatantly attempts to make what are so clearly negatives into positives. But the fulcrum at which his whole spiel falls apart is when he simply asserts that all this inventory is going to disappear, and the prices will start to go up.

I suspect the inventory is going to continue to explode, driving prices down. Even if his premise is correct, the time to buy would be this winter when the sellers are desperate.

Anyway, a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an agent, or a joke, or both.

I see by an ad in the Bulletin that another long-term downtown business is quitting.

pfundamentals. Anyone know the story behind that?

I anticipate a much needed store, like a high-end dress shop, or a high-end home decor, or a high-end jewelry, or....what we really need, a new coffee shop or restaurant.

At this rate, I'll be last man standing. Somebody the other day called me an "institution". I probably should be in one. Trivia Antiques is still there, and Kitchen Complements, and the Book Barn (if under the umpteenth owner), and Robert's Clothes (which has passed down to the next generation.) Let's see...there is Leapin' Lizards. Am I missing anyone with same ownership and location of more than twenty years? Much less twenty-five or more.... Not counting restaurants; I don't know a thing about how restaurants operate.

I'm now getting the children of the original children customers -- the first third generation customer I get, I'm out of here.

Had a most enjoyable and enterprising day, yesterday. Finished my monthly orders -- and for the third month in a row, I've had to stretch my budget by 12% or more. That is obviously the new base, either because prices on the product are rising or because I'm selling more. I've factored it into the summer.

Then went to HOT FUZZ -- which the Salon reviewer Dana Stevens called an Agatha Christie story directed by Micheal Bay, which is better than any description I could give. Enjoyed it almost as much as SHAUN OF THE DEAD.

Came back and gardened until dark. Last year my back was in bad shape for about 4 of the most crucial gardening months, so I'm feeling as though I'm catching up, so far.
There is just something enjoyable about gardening. I don't think I'd be a gardener if it wasn't for my mother, but because of her (and her plants) I sort of took it up, and now I find it very satisfying. It's a bit like being an artist with a camera. I don't -- you know -- actually have to learn any technique. I can wing it. I can take existing landscape and plants and mold them to my vision.

And finally, the usual article in the Bulletin yesterday about growth. We are going to grow like crazy, according to the expert. And we need to build much more infrastructure.

The logic of that kind of escapes me. We need to build much more infrastructure (industrial parks, office space, and retail commercial centers) or what....?

We won't grow?

Which is it, fella?

Status report. I have now stuck to budget for 10 straight weeks. In fact, I held back 400.00 from the reorders last week because I'm getting the quarterly shipment of Magic in next week, which is huge.

Still no blue sky. It just goes to show how hard it is to make money. If I'm being disciplined in my budget, and sales are as good or better than projected, and I'm still just breaking even for 10 weeks....then I have NO CHANCE of making money if I'm NOT disciplined.

All bills are paid in full, and I think....I think....I made a small dent in credit card bills last month, though I doubt that will happen this month.

Usually, I'm building up debt this part of the year, or drawing down on reserves. Summers and Christmas are money makers -- the rest of the year I'm lucky to make any money at all. I'm committed to this budget at least through June, and because sales are so much higher in July and August, I'm not going to change then either. I'm just committed to it.

It's the first time, in all the 27 years I've been here, that I've had a budget that covered all the store needs, paid the bills, and had the potential to have a bit of profit at the end. Even if it is still theoretical.

It probably doesn't seem like a big deal, but this is one of the longest periods of time I've spent sticking to a pre-designed budget. Oh, I've spent less out of necessity, but more often than not, I've blown a fuse out of a sudden enthusiasm to carry new product.

I've never set a nice, solid middle-ground and then stuck to it for very long. Every week that goes by that I stick to it, makes it easier to stick to the next week.

I'm not sorry that I spent 8 months building up the store that I had originally intended to try to profit, because sales are so much higher -- probably 15% higher, which over the next few years should accrue higher profits in the end than if I had stuck to my original inventory. ( Unfortunately, the extra profit will be in the final year of my lease, and a lot can happen before then. )

I'm not sorry, but its time to be grown up and live with a real budget.

Keep the faith.

Spring Fever.

Last two days have been really slow. Crickets chirping, newspaper wafting across the room, Sergio Leone movie music slow. Customers haven't been in the mood.

Who can blame them? Walking from the parking garage to my store, I wanted to turn around and go back home and garden. Beautiful day, the kind of day that I stayed in Bend for...not too hot, with a hint of perfume in the air.

Luckily, business was good until the last few days. It'll bring down our average; I'm always amazed by how one or two bad days can change that.

I used to try to figure out how weather affected my business. Rain, snow, heat, cold, etc. I couldn't figure out a pattern.

Finally, I realized it wasn't the weather itself, it was the shift in weather. So when we experience a shift from winter to spring, my hope is that it will stay like this for a few weeks -- that we won't have another blast of winter -- so that people get used to it.



Doing my monthly orders this weekend. Takes me roughly 10 hours these days; but works better if I do 5 hours over 2 days, otherwise my brain gets fried. Will leave me time to garden, and maybe see Hot Fuzz tomorrow.



Dang Dolphins. Just cost me a bunch of money. Cost every cardshop in America a bunch of money. What you want when you sell a rookie card is an offensive player in a glamour position -- quarterback, running back, or it need be, wide reciever. It helps if they have a memorable name. JaMarcus Russell; #1, QB. Good. Calvin Johnson, WR; O.K. Adrian Peterson, RB, GREAT! Brady Quinn, QB. Would've made him probably the second or third most sought after card; maybe even the first. Now...he toast. He's dropped out of the top 10, and he has the smell of disappointment.

Dang Dolphins.

Just as an antidote to my optimism, here's something to think about:

world wide bubble


Look! Look! A Link. I'm a techhead!