One year ago today: October 20, 2017, comments on Stalingrad.
Five years ago today: October 20, 2013, and UFOs.
Nine years ago today: October 20, 2009, bilogical terminology sucks.
Random years ago today: October 20, 2004, just less magnificent.
Our first dollar. Except after inflation. Y’day I bought a sheet of postage stamps, it is now 50 cents to mail a letter, that is, ten times the cost of the first letter I mailed in my life. Yes, I write this bill off as a $15 expense. The bill, the frame, and the gasoline to go get it.
At 5:15AM I checked the cart. I made-ready by taking down the tarp and stowing a lot of gear for short-range transpo. I loaded enough gear into the station wagon (Unit 31) to get things to the stage where he just shows up and goes directly to work. I drove past the site, now called 001 in my books at 6:00AM in the dark. Nobody was there, so the concept that it starts at 7:00AM is a holdover from the farmer’s market. More like start setting up at that time. This is how teamwork builds, but it sure is hard figuring out what the other guy is thinking sometimes. By checking the freezer and cooler, I see that leaving things to the lurch to Agt. R is the right way to do things in his view. It is JIT (just in time) supply without the college degree.
I’m not about to try to change anything, the keyword is adapt. Just work with what you’ve got until the team is built. The only thing I’m certain he’s changed about is my pointing out that for the first year, we will both have to put in an immense amount of unpaid labor. Today was the real start of that, ten hours to operate a four hour stint. We only think we know what tired is. I should add that when you do this kind of work, it is a different kind of tired. You aren’t wasting your life in a cube farm and payday is when you make it. It’s an exhilarating tired more than an exhausting tired.
I checked the way he had stored things at his place and it’s naturally where he can find everything. To me, it seems complicated. I will set my duplicate facilities here, so he understands when I operate the cart, it will be as streamlined as I can make it. As for figuring out what he’s thinking, the food items should be brought by the person actually doing the serving, so he’s clear-minded on that and I just learned it. The only thing I’d change right away is the water supply. Since I know roughly when he’ll arrive, I’d like to have the water heated. Even with the 15% larger burners, it can take 25 minutes to get things just right.
Just you remember, we are learning this as we go. The finest manuals can only give you a rough idea. I know because I’m the only one around here who’s been reading them. At 6:30AM (in a few minutes), I’ll tow the rig over and park. The Almanac gives sunrise at 7:03AM but not any twilight times, as would a nautical version. I’m okay, I outfitted the cart with LEDs. Check in later, this is, in my records, our official first opening.
I got to the site just a few minutes late, and set up all I could. I used my sample supplies and got the operation running to a minimum state, which is all I’d ever planned for. Here is a picture of everything I need to sell hotdogs, self-contained, streamlined, and efficient. This shows the unit in towing configuration, awaiting an assigned setup spot. I could tell already it would be a slow day. This was more of a dry run for operating the unit myself, since I was setup and ready when Agt. R showed up at 9:30AM. No way he will be here on time, but he brought all the items I could not find in the pitch black silence. I’m learning the operation hand over fist, or dog over bun, as it were. The customers today were very understanding that I was still apprenticing.
Mid-ocean ridge.
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Agt. R showed up with chilled soda, but just 36 cans. The good news is he had to stick to three brands. He had to return to work until 2:00PM, meaning I ran the show myself the entire time. Aren’t you proud of me. As this picture shows, his concept of simple is in contrast with mine. Boiled peanuts, four propane tanks, two umbrellas, three cooler chests, outdoor seating, does it ever end? Dunno.
This is a foot in the door. I gave each of the vendors who came buy a free dog and soda. I knew it, the Polish kielbasa was the preference. It took me twice as long as it should to serve fast food, but my system of self-pay when they have the correct change was a boon. Plus the money stays bolted to the cart until end of the day. Remind me to make the slot bigger. This event is once per month, third Thursdays. I may be present for the second event. Most people offer advice to set up beside the road, which I’ll look at. As you see from the picture, we are admirably equipped compared to many operations. Even if I find it too elaborate.
What did I learn? Fry those onions in butter and liquid smoke. Heat the pan full of water for even a couple hotdogs, so the specific heat content stays high. Offer a whole wheat bun, the hoagie route may return later but is not an advantage now. My pricing level was better, there is no incentive to charge the low prices he likes. The foot traffic today was poor and it is not tourist season yet. There is, IMHO, too much attached to the tourist thing anyway. View it, I say, not as an expectation, but a boon.
You’ve seen this sign before. Here it is posing by itself. Today was a scorcher but I still would have dived into a few cups of coffee. I was there alone for several empty hour stretches. I’ve learned how to pace myself and the timing for routine checks. There was only one wasted hotdog today, as in cooked but not sold. Throw six heated ones in the steam tray and fire them on the grill. Oh, thanks for reminding me I forgot to turn off the valves. Back to coffee, I suspect we will go for percolated and at this time, give it away free to anyone who buys a jumbo (Polish) dog. With half & half.
Music. Two things to check for. One is why my amp battery seemed to give out after an hour. Two, the lady who runs the operation has no objections to live music. Let me think on that one, but it would be a gig that would not cancel my show for lack of business. I awoke after a two hour siesta and threw on the DVD, “The Aviator”. Pretty sappy. It portrays Howard Hughes the way the media interpreted his actions, probably not the most accurate gambit. I paused it after the airplane crash scene. A cast of stars, or near-stars, and an expensive production.
ADDENDUM
Any believers in fate out there? Here’s a minor item with no explanation. Each post of this blog is made independently, this isn’t the sort of production with a central theme based on what went before. If you’re the early bird, you notice that the last thing I do most days is update the Yesteryear, so it is not like I’ve reviewed anything before commencing to write. Yesterday, the “one year ago” mentioned the DiCapprio movie, “The Aviator”. Was this coincidence? Here’s the facts.
I did not watch the entire movie last year because the disk was corrupted. It would not run on any player, so I tossed it and forgot it. I forgot the disk and the day. Then, exactly 365 days go past, I took a different route home and saw a family thrift I’d not been in before. I zipped in to buy some long tongs, Agt. R uses short tongs and the handles get hot. They had a small selection of DVDs, I went through them and bought a couple, including “The Aviator”.
That evening I threw on the disk. This copy was also bad, artifacting continually, but it at least played. So the unanswered question is why exactly one year ago? I did not plan that and probably could not have planned it if I’d intended. I never knew what was down that road, that the disk was there, or that I would play it that particular day. What are the chances?
(Walrus napping on nuke sub.)
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