Monday Rambles

All things considered, I don't think I've done too badly on the blog front this month.  Pre-scheduling helped, for sure.  I still have a handful of "almost there" posts that did not make it to completion stage this month due to recuperation issues, so I have "ammo" for next month, too.  Looking back at last year, I seem to be on pace to make my posting goal for 2013, and post 900 is right around the corner!  It could happen this week!  We'll see.  If not, next week for sure.

I got targeted today, which was such a weird experience.  First, I have to put on a gown, but with the opening in the front, so that they can see the scar on my chest.  Then, I have to lay down on this board that looks honestly narrower than I am while twisting around so that I am on my back and my shoulder st the same time.  In other words, it's yoga for fat people with cancer time!

Now, the doc comes in and starts marking up my face, neck and head with a Sharpie to the point where I start to feel like Charlie Brown in the Great Pumpkin special.

Being a big ole pop culture nerd means you come up with interesting analogies.

After this, they cover my face with this pliable mesh stuff to make a mask-thing that will help get my head in the same position every time.  They trace most of the docs markings onto the mask, so I don't have to walk around with a purple marker line on my jaw.  I was all prepared to tell people it was a religious observance.  I'm a Melanomian, you know.  After this, I get scanned and they take some pics, because everyone wants pics of a fat guy doing yoga in an open hospital gown while wearing a Sharpie-covered mesh mask.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that if you Google that, you'll find it's some kind of fetish category.  If my pics are on the website, I seriously do not want to know.

I'm not the only one doing the doctor rounds right now.  Kosh had his annual check-up and shots at the vet on Saturday.  He's never happy about going to the vet, but he did okay.  He's ten now, which makes him the oldest one in the house.  In people years, he's four years older than Keith and a whopping eight years older than me!  His blood work came back fine, so we're going to have him with us for a while.  Good thing.  I may need the medical attention from Dr Kosh again.

Something that you probably don't want to do during your surgery recuperation is expand your business, but you also have to strike while the iron is hot.  Dealing with my extra corner has been a challenge, but it's about 80% where I want it to be and soon will be brimming with new stock.  The new arrangement is helping to move some older pieces that have needed to go on.  I'll have some pics up as soon as I get everything done.  In other words, as soon as everything is back on shelves and not sitting in carts.  If it weren't for Keith, there's no way  I could have handled this.

Sales have been okay for January, but not near where I wanted them to be.  Part of it is due to the extended mess at the booth caused by the expansion and part of it is due to my stock running low due to my recuperation.  The extra rent bump is going to hurt a bit, too.  February is usually the strongest month of tax season, so I'm confident I'll bounce back.

One of the nice things about the beginning of the year in this business is that it usually brings in a lot of new vendors.  Seems a bunch of people want to jump on the bandwagon and get rid of stuff and make some extra money at that start of the year.  Most of them won't last, of course.  Some of them have no clue how much work is actually involved to be successful with a booth.  But while they last, it makes for a nice, full mall, with "new" stuff to attract customers, and that helps everyone!

We've also got an influx of established vendors from a vendor mall that's closing.  These are folks that will be around for a while, because they know what they are doing.  It realy does perk the place up!

Days of Our Lives continues to draw me in every day, which is something it hasn't done for five or six years. Seriously, it is about as good right now as a soap can get. In the past, I was a daily watcher out of habit, which is what they want.  Now, I'm a daily watcher because I want to see what's coming next.  That is what I want.  I've got some posts planned about the show:  what's working, what still needs to be improved, and where it all went wrong in the mid-2000's.  They're just in the draft stages, but should come out in a week or two.  Non-soap folks can feel free to skip them over.