Back home once again. But don't expect me to try and pick up my social agenda just yet. Email and phone calls will have to wait a day. I've got a lot of sleep to catch up on after the grueling but now familiar drive. Still fighting off the remnants of the flu. But after a nice hot shower and the comfort of sleeping in my own bed again - added to the unexpectedly lovely weekend weather; and you can probably imagine it feels pretty good to be back. The blue sky alone is a refreshing break from the last couple of weeks. Quite a bit of headway seems to have been made on my bathroom remodel whilst I was away. Bills to pay, lots of laundry to process, not to mention the mountain of mail to sort and toss. Normalcy slowly returns...

Mid afternoon went to scout out some of the region's retail (type withheld at present) stores. It's one of the business ideas I've been floating in my brain - quite seriously. But to get there I require lots of up front homework. Visited a little mom-and-pop store that I knew about and decided to talk to the owner because it's about the size and scope I had in mind. Wanted to know how and if he could manage to pull out a silicon valley living in such a modest place. Wanted to pick his brain on competing with the big guys and if he thought there was room for another retail (type withheld) store in the area. He lit up when I started yakking and ushered me into the back. Turns out he's retiring from the business soon and ready to move on. Wants to transition out gracefully. All the sketchy numbers and timeframes we discussed are within range of what both of us are looking for. It's an ideal location with a dedicated clientelle and has been operating for 40-50 years (longer than any of the competition); with a good mix of products and services and is laid out in such a way to fit my own long term vision. I might just have stumbled into the right place at the right time.