Last night RO and I watched "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." What a strange movie. Mostly art for art's sake. RO called it "Pink Floyd for Children." Afterwards we came up with a morel-of-the-story; don't break the rules, if you do, make sure you can cover your ass. Otherwise you won't win the lotery.

RO and I took Saturday off-- the first day we've had off in months. We went with Steven, Vic and some of their friends to the Freemont Solstice day parade. We had a blast. Freemont is an differnt place-- locals call Freemont the center of the universe. It's 60's hippy meets modern grunge, meets Seattle money.

Pics at rooktook

I'm starting to get tired. Having two full time jobs is wearing me down.

The stress at my day job is increasing. This fall we hope to finish a three year project. My manager has let out subtle hints like "If you ever wanted to work over time, now is the time to do it."

Then there is the store. The cash the store goes through is unsettling. Advertising works, but is expensive. All of our income goes to paying bills. We'd be in big trouble if anything went wrong. Our fixed monthly costs have grown way beyond what I can support.

Don't get me wrong, the store isn't going under-- so far sales in June have been excellent. But as RO said after he sold a expensive chandelier, "Yea! We can pay our bills!" Its frustrating to sell so many luxury goods, yet have no cash left to show for it.

To calm my nerves I think about "Black Friday" the day after Thanksgiving when most stores (supposedly) become profitibale.

I am still stiff and sore.

The truck trailer was 60 feet long and full of furniture. We hired six guys to help us and got it all unpacked in about two hours. Then, we spent the rest of the day unpacking and stacking everything.

We got the warehouse keys this morning. On our way to pick up the keys, the truck driver called ans said "I'm in Seattle. Can I drop off early?"

This was cutting it too close.

It's been a very stressful week. Last week, we thought we had a warehouse-- the landlord was going to finalize the lease all we had to do was sign and pay up. In anticipation of the warehouse, RO started the shipment on a transport truck full of furniture that had been waiting for the go ahead for about a month. The truck is going to arrive this Saturday.

Then the landlord just stopped talking to us.

So, Tuesday and Wednesday Mark and I busted our butts trying to find another warehouse before Saturday.

Fortunately, last night, the leasing agent called us and said he heard from the land lord-- death in the family. We are signing the lease today.

Weird nature moment... This morning while I was standing and peeing off the edge of the back deck a humming bird flew up to, well, my penis, and watched me pee. It felt weird to be stared down by a humming bird. Any other body part and that would have been a beautiful nature moment. After a few second the bird flew off.

Well, she quit. Or we helped her quit. Or something like that. On Saturday I met with her. She brought along a list of things that would allow her to continue working at the store. We talked for a while more and agreed to meet again on Sunday.

I took the list back to RO. The list was not outlandish, but not pratical either. We are a small company with a small budget. We can't bend over backwards to accomodate a part time employee. At the end of the day RO is the store. He is the best designer. He is the boss. He can be a hard-ass, but that's because he's the one responsible for the sucess of the store.

RO and I decide we could not give her that much flexibility. We also heard that she told some other employees that she was going to quit.

On Sunday I met with her again. I told her our decision and that I heard she was considering quiting. I said I supported that decision.

She asked for a letter of reference. I will give her one.

The other day I helped a guy who ran out of gas. A run down Bronko was stalled on the off ramp by my place.

I pulled over and asked the guy if he needed help. The driver was a big black guy. Yes, "Am I going to get mugged" thoughts ran through my brain. He told me he ran out of gas. I offered to drive him to the closest gas station.

The trip was uneventful. His name was Zak. He's a student from western washington. He thanked me a lot and then we parted ways.

We are having our first HR issues at the store. One of the employees is very senstative and takes everything personally. RO on the other hand, needs to get things done and he can't always handle the employees with kid gloves.

This is frustrating for RO and I. We both like her. But, we can't always and constatnly praise and reaffirm her. Sometimes we need the employees to do their job, and to not break out in tears if we try to correct a mistakes. (A $500.00 check wasn't signed. Candles which leave oil and fragrance were set on and stained an expensive wool rug. Medium sized vase left in the middle of walk way, where RO tripped on it.) I think we are dealing with her professionally, but I don't know how soft we need to go.

It's getting to the point where RO is uncomfortable around her, beause he's afraid that he's going to say something that will set her off.

May is turning into a tight month for the store. We half expected that-- tax returns are just starting to get back to people.

There has also been some construction outside the store. They blocked the street off on Saturday. Fortunatly the construction company was nice enough to put up a large reader lighted sign saying we were open.

It was a mixed weekend at the store.

The Good... On Saturday our employees showed us that they know the store better than we do... I was trying to find the price for some untagged merchandise. I asked SB if she know the price. She said "No, but we could look it up in the computer." When I went over to one of the computers SB said "Race Ya!" Within two seconds she found the price. I was still looking for the "Find Product" button.

The Good II. During the week, LP set aside some jewlery for a customer. LP had Saturday off. On Saturday, RO and Boone we trying to find the merchandise and couldn't. The followed LP's directions, but couldn't find the bag. RO and Boone started arguing with each other over who had misplaced the jewlery. SB got tired of their bickering so she took LP's directions and found the jewlery no problem. She opened up the cabinet and pulled a bag. She turned to RO and said "Is this it?" RO said no, but it was similar to that. SB turned back to the cabinet and pulled out another bag. "Is this it?" This time it was.

The Bad. On Sunday the closed the street in front of the store for repaving. It killed the day. You could only get to the store by parking far away and then walking. So, we closed early.

b-anne came over for dinner last night. A couple weeks ago she visited India for a vacation. She brought photos of the trip.

The thing that struck me the most is how colourful India is-- People dress in bright saturated colours every day.

Recently Bush has called himself "the Decider" I find it kind of funny that "A Decider" is "a machine that always halts"

Tommy Boy came is in Seattle for work. Friday night and Saturday night RO and I had dinner with him. We had a great time. We spent way too much on food, but we still had a great time.

I'm going to write more about dinners and the small fortune we paid for them. That will be posted on Eats

It was interesting and awkward explaining Tommy to RO. I've known Tommy for years and have met him in person once. So, when I told RO about Tommy, his guard went up. RO wasn't sure he could trust me, or what my intentions were. Was I lying? Was I being honest? Fortunatly things worked out well. Tommy and RO hit it off. Now we are planning to spend next Mardi Gras in Louisiana with Tommy and M.

Last night we went to the Muckelshoot Casino. S goes there every year to comemorate her dad's death. Her dad used to gamble a lot at the Muckelshoot.

We had a good dinner. Afterwards RO played some blackjack and S played the slots. I guess S's dad was with us in spirit because they both won about $30.00

Last night we went to the Muckelshoot Casino. S goes there every year to comemorate her dad's death. Her dad used to gamble a lot at the Muckelshoot.

We had a good dinner. Afterwards RO played some blackjack and S played the slots. I guess S's dad was with us in spirit because they both won about $30.00

Last night we went to the Muckelshoot Casino. S goes there every year to comemorate her dad's death. Her dad used to gamble a lot at the Muckelshoot.

We had a good dinner. Afterwards RO played some blackjack and S played the slots. I guess S's dad was with us in spirit because they both won about $30.00

Last night we went to the Muckelshoot Casino. S goes there every year to comemorate her dad's death. Her dad used to gamble a lot at the Muckelshoot.

We had a good dinner. Afterwards RO played some blackjack and S played the slots. I guess S's dad was with us in spirit because they both won about $30.00

It's not that I want to remain anonymous. I know I don't have that. Google Analytics tells me where my visitors come from, down to about the zip code. From what I see, many of my friends drop in from time to time.

My problem is that search engines work. If say "Luscious Breasts", for the next week or so my hit count will double thanks to all the people looking for said body part.

One third of the people who find the store's website get their by searching for it. If I mention the store directly on this blog, then a good portion of those people will stumble upon this blog. And I'm not sure I want my customers reading my blog.