Can sorta' understand east coast or midwest deliveries taking a few days, but it's the ones in S.F. that bother me. Even there it takes UPS about 4 days to drive the country. No deliveries again today if you read between the lines. It's two weeks on some orders, and if you subtract UPS time it means that it's taking these large warehouses more than 10 days to process and pack an order. Amazing they're still in business. Where I find other suppliers of the same goods, they might not be for long. It's typically a laid back industry but most of these guys are damage in the supply network that I must figure out how to route around. But also got my account established with another huge distributor that drop ships from Reno. That's about six good guys and a dozen lazy bums. Could use a couple more good guys.

Held out on getting the rental invoices ready so I could catch a few stragglers from last month. Glad I did. Two instruments came back and three people paid. There's a real long day ahead because these all have to be posted (mailed) like on the 1st.

Feast or famine. Now I've got classical guitars up the wazoo. One of the book orders came in today (finally). I've still got eleven vendors in transit. Luckily my strategy over time doesn't require them to be timely.

Now even the old-timers who were skeptical at my presence are starting to render compliments. I've turned this thing into a pretty cool little music shoppe. I've got stuff for the niños to play with, band instruments for their older brothers and sisters, and serious stuff for the adults. More to come.

Sold the beat up sousaphone. Fifteen hundred bucks pure profit. Cost me nada just like the trombones. Well ok, it cost 35 bucks for a mouthpiece. Wahoo!

Now I've got a webcam running at the store but can't easily get it to my server without breaching the firewall. Sigh. Not sure I want to do that, but a live webcam from the store is certainly more interesting than the dead webcams I've got running at the house.

Let's see - are these guys POW's or unlawful combatants? Hmmm... trick question. No matter how you look at it the guys are toast. There's nobody but Amnesty International to fight for them and no way they'll ever make contact. No way to take them home and no way they're coming to my backyard. Nobody will ever know what happened to them. Dwell on this a couple of years from now when they mothball Guantanamo again and send the Marines home.

I've been trying to figure out what it was about the Video Professor that tickled me. You've seen him on late night TV with his Learning To Use a Computer series. You pop the CD in the tray and up comes a window - that works just like a VCR. If you're among the ten percent of Americans that can figure out how to program a VCR you're probably doing just fine with the computer.

Bananarama and Boy George decided to make a comeback. Sigh - another generation's stars discover they have no meaningful job skills and figure Vegas is better than poverty. The boy, or whatever he is will fall of his own dead weight. We've seen his dark side and it ain't pretty. The girls might fare better. Haven't seen recent photos but my math says they've got about another eighteen months to make their comeback before the wrinkles hit. Assuming their waists are still intact they might have a chance.

It wasn't too long ago I was explaining the shell game with corporate debt w/r/t AT&T, but turns out Enron is a much better example of the principle at work.

Today I had an entrepenuer's day off. Only went to the shop for about four hours. Spent the remaining hours catching up on my very much neglected domicile duties. The bathroom - which I probably haven't mentioned in a month or two; is not quite done. Worked on that for a little while. Have to order the glass for the doors and find a new light fixture... yadda, yadda... The yard remains basically in ruins. Awaiting better weather and more time.

Cleaned out the store office and tried to get a handle on the pathetic heating. Oh, it's simply a case that the main duct like fell off the heater and nobody ever seemed to notice that the attic was getting hot but the store wasn't. Duh. A bit of duct tape and we're back in business though the layout isn't optimal. Over time I'll have it redone and cut my heating bill in half. The attic is still full of surprises. Two brand new trombones in boxes. They cost me nada. Can sell 'em for a grand or two each. Silver, with keys. Rare stuff. Or just take one home and learn to play the thing. Don't laugh. I'll be finding stuff up there for months. Lot's of junk, but some nice goodies every once in a while makes it seem like a treasure hunt. There's a pre-WWII clarinet. Metal. In good shape. One beside it that's a goner. Those metal clarinets didn't hold up well when sat on.

And it works both ways. I've got a bunch of instruments and equipment at home that I no longer use. Anything I'm tired of I can just drag into the shop and sell used. It's much easier than the want-ads or ebay. The only question is if over time more things migrate to the store than vice versa. And out of the store attic to either a good home or a dumpster. All questions which need not be answered today. Every home needs a nice sax and a trombone or three, don't you think?

Awoke pretty groggy but caught something about starting Mardi Gras early. All because of the Super Bowl or something. 'Scuse me but Fat Tuesday is timed to a celestial event. Suppose all rules are made to be broken, but the consequences of moving up Fat Tuesday means you have to also move up Easter. That's a tall order.

The guy who bought the violin was amusing. Lives on Castro Street. On the street. Hasn't bathed in a year or more. He came in last week to look at a violin and was mumbling mostly incoherently. But he talked his dad into coming down and paying for it. Then he got into a long rambling conversation with himself about the morality of using a product which required sacrifice from both a tree and a horse. This lasted about twenty minutes and he was deeply concerned about what this was going to do to his psyche. His dad was mostly rolling his eyes as if to say he couldn't figure out where the kid lost a screw or three. Boy is he ever lost in space. Teehee - next time he comes in I'm gonna' sell him some gut strings...

He's also a perfect person to try out some skunk perfume with. I should order some. He's deeply aware that people are put off to him because he reeks bad. Could turn this to advantage. Skunk is decidedly the lesser of two evils when compared to gym locker.

Now it's time to party. Wow. I'm livin' hard right now, tryin' to get this baby off the ground. Might use the quiet time tomorrow to get rental invoices prepared. And flatten some more cardboard.

Yay - it's Friday - although it doesn't mean what it once did since I'll be open tomorrow. Compress an entire weekend into Sunday. Sigh... that's reality for the moment.

Fun today. Sold two guitars, ordered the sax. Almost sold a third guitar but the guy was pressuring me too low than I was comfortable; then sprung a 'surprise' part of the deal - trade in his old acoustic. Sheister. And damn good. He basically tricked me down. Held my own but it's a skill I need to improve. A few boxes came in today - some that I ordered yesterday. That's the kind of service I like. These guys are going to walk away with the bulk of my account if they keep it up. But now it's time to back off the ordering and let the inventory basically hold its own. I'll work it up over a few cycles. Tax statements are starting to arrive. Fear and trepidation... stay tuned because I don't yet have official records on all the variables.

Something bonked me on the head today and said doh, you're a friggin' silicon valley startup. Chuckles galore. And the wheel it keeps turning....

So I tune into the news again. Egad. Enron exec commits suicide. And they're still talking about what we're doing with those folks in Cuba. We're torturing them. Deal with it.

One of the teachers at the store teaches accordion. And his one accordion student decided to get in some practice time whilst waiting for the instructor. Argghhh. What awful noise. It will probably be a bit easier once this guy knows a scale or two. Sold a tenor sax today - well that is I special ordered one and will get the money next week once it's delivered. But that's a big ticket sale.

And every passing day before my show merchandise arrives means it's all the more likely to land all on the same day. Sigh... Could've used it nicely spread over three or four days. I'm almost dreading facing a mountain of boxes tomorrow. But wait... it could be worse. It could be Monday when a bunch of other stuff is scheduled to get here. Either way I'm in trouble.

Plugged all the numbers I've got so far this month into Excel finally to get a handle on where I'm at (besides envelope calculations). Precisely middlin' - not great, not bad. Must...not...resort...to...electronic...record...storage... bad idea. Recall I was once an archivist for computer records. In '95, records going back to '71. Ouch. We had to buy special machines just to read the old tapes; then write the software to read in some special format and convert it to some modern language. Ususally one or both backup tapes turned up unreadable. Even modern writable CD's have pretty high failure rates. And all your records will be in an incompatible format two years from now. A paper ledger is just fine thank you.

Just passed the three-week mark. Next week is a bit intense as I send out all the rental invoices and do the end-of-month bookwork. And then I remind myself about IRS day coming in a few short months. Hopefully my seat of the pants calculations got me through last year without requiring huge sacrifice, but it's not completely certain until the real numbers are plugged into turbotax. I was forced to sell stock but under different conditions so I hope not to have to go through the infernal AMT again. Cross fingers and toes...

Business was 'reasonable' today. Not great, not bad. All in all the month is going 'reasonably'. That works for me. Still waiting for my show merchandise, which could start arriving en masse at any time. I've got a fill-in order to place tomorrow - local distributor this time. And sometime before Saturday I expect to be drowning in classical guitars (and cardboard). If Guitar Center can hang guitars from the rafters so can I, but mine cost ninety eight bucks. In this dare I say recession, that's the price point. Haven't sold much of anything for much more than that save a flute an' guitar. But that's OK 'cause I've got the low end covered pretty good now. Most of the stuff that moves every day I've got a lot of. Tomorrow different stuff will move every day. Smile...

Netscape sues Microsoft. What kind of a time warp have I found myself in? Don't know what AOL expects to get out of it.

Whatever happened to that Osama dude? And K-Mart, now there's a doozy. I always hated the K but it was always packed (hence why I hated it). They blew it pretty bad to turn a soft Xmas into chapter 11. Oh well. Companies die. Big ones sometimes.

Long day. Had to order classical guitars because they sold out. Everything but kid's sizes. I've now got a working computer at the shop. So I can maybe even catch up on my email in my copious free minutes. OK... haven't yet finished the e-mail configuration but I can read it. Might take a day or two before I can fully reply. Finished up the lighting - for now. Unpacked a few more boxes that came in today. Lots more working their way here. I'll be going through a cardboard management crisis at least another two weeks. Can only dump the cardboard across the street a block away so anything coming in each day comes in a box that I'm stuck with until closing. Toss 'em in the office and try and keep a walkway. That's tough when it's drum sets or a dozen guitars.

Don't know if anybody noticed, but the days have been getting longer again, for a month now. 5 to go.

Lovely day for a drive - only a hint of high clouds. But it was freaking cold. I cranked up the heater to 95, rolled up the windows and pretended it was summer. Works for me. Getting gas was a bit of a shocker though.

Finally hit my limit. Mental and physical overload - but I've been down every aisle at least ten times. Isn't much I missed. Would drive back tonight but I feel like a cold beer and some veg time. I've got about a linear foot of catalogs, that was just today...

Eddie was a no-show again - not that I care. But Marc Anthony was there with a couple of LA gals - both with as much silicon as one can implant without rupturing. Bought the books. All of 'em. Well that's not entirely true. But everything I need on the short term. Found some more indie shops with good gear for cheap. I instantly became a member of the rebel alliance because I can't afford to sell Conn, Armstrong, Gibson, Fender, Martin, and Taylor. So I need to buy my gear from China or a little craft shop. Fortunately there are lots of things to choose from either way. Stuff that's better than the brand names.

Bought some fun stuff too. Oops, can't tell you.

I'm in a new hotel tonight. Went down the street three blocks and I've got the grand family suite for less than I was paying for the single. It was the last room left in the place so I took it. Had I known - I could've had one hell of a party tonight. But it's got a fridge that holds beer so I still might.

Day one of the NAMM show. No didn't see Eddie VH, but talked to Pete Escovido for a moment and got an autographed calendar from Jim Marshall of Marshall Amplifier fame. The politicicking is crazy. No, I just can't sell certain products because well first of all I'm not big enough and second of all I would be trodding on somebody's staked territory. But that's OK 'cause I can carve out a niche between the other guys. Now I just have to figure out what that is... Still there are lines I may never be able to carry no matter how much I might want to.

My mission here is to buy books. Have to keep focused. Yeah, lots of cool stuff, but I have to go home with books in the end. Save the pretty stuff for another day - perhaps as soon as a month or three. Keep those business cards. Saw lots of pretty stuff. Sigh... Focus, you can do it...

It felt pretty strange leaving my new venture for a few days. I then found myself in downtown LA on the Santa Ana freeway at precisely 5:30 PM. Think I could've timed it any better? Dang, I'm grateful to live in the bay area. Got a hotel for two nights but then have to find something for the third. No problem - I'm in Disneyland. Trust me, there are rooms; but this one is literally across the street from the convention center. That'll work for now.

Today some guy and his gal came in and looked around for a few moments and he asked if I was Mike. Happened upon this website hacking on an IMAP client for lisp; and was in the neighborhood. That's what's cool about this - everybody has a story to tell. Oh yeah, fixed the infernal toilet. Lots to do, so chou for now. Back in a few days. Teletubby bye-bye...

More stuff arrived. Had a second really good day in a row (Sunday didn't count). Today's high-ticket buyer was a flutist. The toilet's broken. Will have to fix it before opening tomorrow. The sign says employees only but how you gonna' regulate the bladders of kids that are here for a half-hour lesson each week? Pack tomorrow evening... Then off to la-la land for a few days for the trade show. It promises to be pure information overload.

Today I was closed technically, but catching up on a bunch of stuff whilst it was quiet. One father pleaded for me to open the door and sell his son a ukelele. What the heck - I was there anyway. Contrast this to the little girl yesterday. This kid did not want a uke. Daddy did. The kid could care less and wouldn't even look at me when i tried to show him how to make noise with it (two and a half years old).

Blockbuster sales today. A 20-something guy and girlfriend. Went straight for the black Gretsch (that I got in yesterday) and that's what he wanted. Threw in a case and stand and made him a deal on the package. That did it. He's one happy guy tonight. So am I. That's what it's all about. Sold a rental violin. Then the seven year old little girl who's been coming in for weeks with her mommy and telling her how much she wants to play guitar and the little 3/4 size guitars I have are perfect. I showed her a couple of easy chords and she's already signed up for lessons. Today she came in with daddy instead. Uh-huh. I know how it is buddy. But she wants this thing really bad and you're gonna' get it for her aren't you? Of course you are... that's why she brought you this time. And I can only say this because you know I'll eat those words a million times. I just hope I can satisfy my precocious little girl with something as easy as music. Anything but horses. Hope I never have to eat those words.

But if my little girl does show am interest in guitars, I bought her a half-size flying V two years ago. Shhh. Next birthday I think. I already know she won't be satisfied with a little acoustic guitar, Any other instrument I'm pretty well covered. I can literally let her try any instrument she can imagine. Hmmm, there's an idea. Let parents rent out a continuing instrument of any kind for the same price.

For those of you thinking that all I do these days is sit around and play guitar and meet pretty babes (though I've got no problem with that); today I earned my keep - the truck arrived. 24 huge crates of stuff. I was huffing the whole day getting shelves stocked again. And everybody that came in afterward said "Holy $#!+... What happened to this place?" Tee hee... Now it's starting to look like a music store. Am I sore...

The big question is what to do with all the cardboard. Collection day isn't until Monday and I can't even move in the office.

My backup suppliers are starting to kick in as well, so I will probably be out of the woods in a few days. I'm gonna' be swimming in gear in a few days. Oh, the Gretsch's are nice. Only thing I didn't catch was microphone cables. Drat. I can now sell an entire PA system except for the microphone cables. Darned if I'm gonna' send somebody to the competition for a couple of cables. Sigh... And I haven't yet unpacked the drum sets. If you know anything about drumsets, you'll understand.

Started cleaning house (haven't kept up with it the last week or so - you'll understand). Found an un-opened box of See's chocolates. From Xmas. Let me assure it did not remain un-opened.

Kinda' nickel and dime'd my way to good sales today. Sold a trombone that had been on rental. Though I had to discount it heavily due to the fact she'd been renting it for six months already. Took some old merchandise out of the drawers that didn't even count as inventory. Obscure string sets, speaker cabinet corners, stuff like that. Oh, and I sold my old bass guitar. As is. Fifty bucks. Latin kid that really wanted to play bass guitar but my $500 models weren't even considered and the $179 electric I'm getting in the truckload was also too much. So I says look - I've got a cheap bass, barrato in the office. Vieja. Cinquenta dalores. Quieres? He took it. Walked away with his grand-dad proudly with his bass under his arm. I didn't rip him off. It's not a great bass. It's worth about 50 bucks. Think I paid $79 for it about ten years ago. The last two years I've just been searching out a good home for it. Found it.

Spent another half hour conversing more or less with a gentleman who inquired about spanish language music books. Then he started talking about changing his guitar strings and I went blank on some important words. I told him I didn't know the espanol for some words and he laughed and asked why not tell him in English. Sigh... He's cool. Now I recall - he's been in here before. Just testing me. I was also helped by the cuban music playing at the time.

Not many buyers today. I'm not concerned. Doesn't mean things didn't happen. Fixed another guitar. Got the string order, which included a lot of guitar accessories. It's happening; but on a manageable scale. Zolt! Oops... Got the essentials rolling slowly this direction. Now to figure out what I can use to define the shop and create an identity here. There are niches galore, and many of them lack a place. The place came with some cool niches but there are more...

The show starts next thoisday. I'll likely drive down on wensdi. We're talking Hollywood even though it's down the road in Anaheim. Eddie VH is going to be there; probably Joe S.; and perhaps Carlos S. You never know. In fact most of the top legends in the music world. All selling cool gear. I like cool gear. Danger Will Robinson....

It isn't a life without some drama. On questioning the distributor, the freight didn't ship until today. That's a week and the truck doesn't come 'til later this week. Ouch. There are other distributors with the same stuff. I can do better. But my violins came in. Guitar strings tomorrow. Those were FOB San Luis Obispo. All in all, good sales for a second day - even under the circumstances. Fixed a guitar and trumpet. Gave the rest to Tony. Processed rental payments which flow in all month.

That's kinda' the stuff I do. Now the gal that sells the violins is a long tale. I won't go into all of it here. But basically she never tell you where she from and you no call her, she call you. Presumably a South Korean distributor. Right... There is no better price for violins and bows on the planet - and good stuff. You just don't ask a lot of questions. All you know is it came from mainland China. She also brought in a gorgeous cello. At a price that I can rent it out knowing the neck will be broken off ultimately. I guarantee that she's legitimate, but I'd hate to be the person tasked with trying to pin it down. This stuff is coming straight from the mainland.

With any luck the truck will come in today. I've got the people coming in. But I need the stuff to sell. Finish up the ordering for some more. If not today, then tomorrow I'll have boxes streaming into the place. Hopefully I can stream them right back out the other end... just wishful thinking. In any event this little store is about to get an adrenalin jolt.

Truck didn't come. Sigh... tomorrow it will. Ordered more. 'Twas ok sales for a change. Sold a pretty guitar. Bought a sax. But that's ok, 'cause I can clean it up and sell it double. Shhh. Don't tell her that. Got the guitar string order through. Bob's coming tomorrow to get the things I missed on the first big order. Only thing left is books and mouthpieces to polish things off after that. Oh, but the trade show is next week. I've asked Tony Jr. to come back and mind the shop for a few days while I get the skinny on who's got what. He hasn't yet seen what I've done... but Tony Sr. is coming tomorrow for coffee and repair pickups. That's cool.

First thing I did for my so-called day off (after grabbing a cupajoe of course) was to flip on the news. Looks like I haven't missed a lot on the main events. I can probably surmise that the hot topic last week was probably the Cuban POW camp and not much else happened. Of course things did and it will be the flash headlines that I really missed. The little stuff.

Solved the CD changer dilemna. Costco has a sale on the changers. I'll just take half my music collection to the store. Since all my favorite artists are usually represented on more than one CD this is the best of all worlds; and I can be choosy about what might not be suitable for public listening. And as for me - between work and home I'll be able to listen to the entire collection. That works. Grabbed the Sunday paper for the purposes of filling in world events last week. The question is only if I'll have spare time today to look at it.

Nope. Spent the rest of the afternoon wiring up said CD changer. Couldn't keep away on my day off. Sigh...

Went in early to place another couple of orders. But it turns out that the distributors are closed on Saturday. OK - nice to know. I'll deal with it. Spent my spare time instead getting a handle on music books. There are thousands of different titles in the store and many thousands more available. Trying to figure out what books I'm short of is probably the most drudging task at the store. Thankfully the books are something that are only ordered twice a year. Got my deposits in and finished the book-keeping for the week.

Once again was impressed by the number of walk-in folks that proclaimed that they never knew there was a music store here. It's been here all their lives... Stuck up my JBL's (speaker cabinets) from the house and got the place rockin'; even though they were driven from the old Magnavox receiver Tony left me. Made a fateful decision. I'm taking the mega-CD changer from the house and putting my random play collection out for the public. This is where I'll be spending most of my waking hours and my collection gets pretty weird in my sleep. Think I'll solicit contributions from the music students to fill up the remaining 100 slots. That's two months between repeated songs and it spans every form of music in existence. Perfect for a music store. But I better keep a remote control nearby in case it gets too weird.

Tomorrow could be my first day off. Not likely. Have to make a Home Depot run and perhaps Costco. Sigh.

The people are cool. I try my darndest with espanol - there are non-english speakers that come in and need a guitar string. I'll have to brush up a bit as I should be better at it after all my time south of the border.

Rigged up some lights today. Exactly what was needed. Prepared another round of orders. Sales are still anemic. But I kinda' started getting into the natural rhythm of the job. Lots of people are now walking in and having a look. That's what I wanted. Several have commented that my later hours (until 7) have brought them in for the first time. So far my business plan is working. Now I just have to sell them stuff.

I'm woefully out of touch with world affairs at the moment. If anything important has happened in the war in the last week I don't know about it. Perhaps ignorance is bliss.

Placed a huge order this morning to give the business a kick-start. I was impressed by the particular distributor whose top sales guy was out there on day one to say hi and offer me humongous discounts if I give them a chunk of my shopping dollars. Fair's fair. I'll check 'em out. I've got drum sets coming in. PA systems, electric guitars - lot's of em. Gretsch guitars. Amps. Plus totally restocked the band instrument stuff after the holiday drain. 

Oh and stainless steel guitar picks. I've joked with several folks that my main reason for buying a music store is because there's absolutely nobody in the South Bay who sells stainless steel guitar picks and I won't use anything else. So now if you live around here and want 'em you've got to talk to me... 

With any luck tomorrow I can run normal work hours plus about one. All is proceeding according to plan. There are many long days ahead but I need a break after the last three days. Verge of collapse.

First day open for business. All went well but it was a bit of a slow sales day. Just as well because I had some spare cycles to work through lots of the to-do list. Back at it early tomorrow.

I'm suddenly aware of the clock ticking beside me. It was ticking the whole time but I just didn't hear it. The year of the millenium (we'll ignore 2000 as it wasn't really) draws to a close. I think about past New Year's resolutions and how long they lasted. It's futile. If you didn't have the conviction to change your life on December 10th, what makes you think you're going to magically aquire it on a chosen date while getting smashed on toxic beverages? My life has changed - mostly for the better. But it is in ways that were practically inconceivable a year ago.

So for the year 2002 which has almost zero significance as a date to remember; I hereby resolve not to make any resolutions - thereby breaking it before it even takes effect. This is the way it should be.

But in fact, tomorrow does mark a new chapter in my book of life. I'm no longer a cubicle rat working for a faceless conglomerate of media barons. I'm a slave to no man. Likewise I'm a slave to no woman, while also freeing myself from the pangs of bitter loneliness and desperation.

Free at last...

The euro arrives in full force a few hours from now. The untold story is how this has affected the black market. Money launderers have only 8 weeks left to convert their hidden truckfuls of sovereign cash before they become worthless. Granted this process has been going on for some time as there has been ample warning. But changing a monetary system provides an opportunity to flush them out. Whether you like it or not you have to take your cash to a legal financial institution and convert it or lose it all. For a brief time the absolute size of the illicit market can be calculated.