Although the situation was anticipatable, I must report that there has been zero business at the shop for almost two weeks now. The situation is possibly past the point where I have to shut down the operation. I would try raising prices first. Generally speaking, that is a dumb move. However, check back because if I take a loss this month, it will be the first time according to blog rules that I have to tell you about something that I’d rather not. But don’t get the idea I’ll be showing you the books. Interesting, how these things happen, though.Another quiet day and the same has just been reported from North Carolina, the area around Wilmington. I vaguely remember what there is to do over there although I am sure Theresa is doing them all. Hey, kid, glad to hear you are getting out of the house thingee. I would like to revisit the area as soon as finances permit and Theresa reports she now knows where things are at. She has taking a liking to the “Barbary Coast”, the pub we visited last April 2. With the loud juke box and surly waiters.
Carlos was back to pick up a few odds and ends we kept for him. The point is, the guy may have hit the bonanza by meeting Wallace and I. He was across the way for a year but in my normal mode I don’t much mingle with neighbors. Between him being a musician and Wallace, he has won us over to his side enough to consider helping him out a bit. I said a bit.
As per prediction by moi (and this blog makes it very easy to go back and check my exact words and dates), Wallace and I now have by comparison a very stable and functional premises, I said by comparison and a large part is due to my management. Plus, those premises are in Florida, eat your heart out. Most other properties, no matter how fancy, are not as enduring as this location and all who see it today state that we did a fantastic job of planning ahead (in this economy). Thank you, yes we did. We may give Carlos a break, if he tries to rent elsewhere under his circumstances, he’ll get shafted. We understand nobody wants to share rent with a landlord who is desperate or in a condo on the foreclosure list. On the other hand, unless there is outside interference, this place will still be here in 2039.
Except for talking with Eddie a bit about the dismal state of our rehearsal scheduling, I called it an early day. At least there seems to be one thing we won’t argue over, and that is playing Blues. You know, that asinine argument you go through with every guitar player who wants to play some useless Blues because he spent so long learning it. They grow an attitude that you have no taste. To paraphrase General Grant, I know two Blues musicians. One is BB King and the other one isn’t.
I’ve been meaning to look at Etsy, the website for entrepreneurs that bills itself as an alternative to eBay. Like many, I see eBay as either selling castoffs or retailing the mass-produced, hardly the correct venue for somebody making designer paperweights. Influenced by an article I read twenty years ago that the future of arts and crafts was in things hand-made “by computer”, I was drawn by Etsy’s claims of “quit your day job”. Wouldn’t all of us like to have a place to sell things we make ourselves, but something about Etsy isn’t adding up. Maybe I’ll look into it further. I’m not so sure that making things out of dry macaroni is the same thing as trying to sell them for a living.
[Author's note 2015-07-25: I recognize the above is rambling. This is precisely what happens when I try to write while I'm exhausted.]
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