Day 322 of 362

It's a lazy Saturday here at the Gopher. We have a couple of people playing Malifaux, and we'll have World of Darkness happening tonight. I'll get to leave early, but I'm not certain what I'm going to be doing. The smart thing would be to go home and catch up on laundry, but there is a *LOT* going on in my head right now, and it's becoming difficult to deal with. Nothing altogether horrible, just stressful... and like most other folks, stress and I don't enjoy being stressed out.

I also hate working at other people's speed. Hurry up and wait is not an ideal situation for me to be in, and that's where we are at right now.

I would like to say "thank you" to the people who have listened and been sounding boards; "I'm sorry" to some people who have been targets of my frustration, and "we're trying" to those who don't think progress is being made. Loq and I appreciate your patience, support, and friendship...  =)

-- GopherDave

Day 321 of 362

Friday... means Friday Night Magic. Today also means the release of the new Dominion expansion, Hinterlands, and the new MtG: Premium Deck, Graveborn. That means I'm going to be a very busy man early on. As I am running late, I should get going.

No word yet on other things and it's driving me bonkers. As I've said, I'm not patient. I know I just have to wait. Time is of the essence, however, and the sooner we get started, the sooner I'm going to be less crazy and stressed than I am currently.

Long day ahead... I need to get it started...

-- GopherDave

Day 320 of 362

Behind me, on the right, you can see sunshine beaming through this wonderful, sunny 29-F degree day...

Hey, It's Thursday and I'm not running behind! Will wonders never cease. Tonight at the store are some games. I know there's a Champions game happening because I'm in it, but there's supposedly a Pathfinder game happening that's having some issues, so it might not go off tonight. I really don't know as I've sort of had my head buried in the sand dealing with the upcoming move and its preliminaries.

Beyond that, I have no idea... see above. Head... Sand... yeah...

-- GopherDave

Day 319 of 362

It's morning... in November... in the Midwest... Sweaters were a good choice for a uniform piece.

Hello, Wednesday... When I get to the store this morning, I will have packages waiting for me. It's shipment day. Amongst all of that, there are a number of things I must do. In fact, it's days like this when I cannot wait to finally move to a larger space with a separate office/back room. Then, I can hire someone (or a few someones), to do some of the basic work while I take care of most of the behind-the-scenes stuff. While we could do that now, but I would have no place to work, as I sort of need physical/visual separation for myself to fully let others do what I've entrusted them to do.

Preliminary negotiations have started for the choosing of the new spot. We have some ideas of how we want to proceed, now we just have to be patient and move at the speed of others.

I'll just be over here in the corner, patiently gnawing off my own arm... (I so want this started...)

-- GopherDave

Day 318 of 362

Running late as usual, but got to the store on time. Two very late nights in a row (with a third looming tonight) has made GopherDave a very tired boy.

We're hoping to enter into some preliminary rent negotiations here in the next two days. Based on what I know of their reputations, one landlord is probably going to give us the moon, while the other landlord (while willing to compromise) will probably not give as much in regard to rent terms. Still, it doesn't hurt to try.

At the store tonight, we have Casual MtG and nothing else. For the second session in a row, real life has bitten my good friend, KnightErrantJR in the backside, so DC Adventures will not be running. S'Okay, though... He'll get through his thing and we'll get to it soon enough. =)

Well... off to go do some work...

-- GopherDave

Day 317 of 362

Yeah... I have three black 'Gopher sweaters. So wearing black two days in a row is bound to happen every now and then. Sue me...

Another "come-from-behind" start to the morning... Feedback keeps coming in on the store move, and it's all important for us to listen to. Keep in mind, though, Loq and I are still the ones who have to make this decision, and it has to be right for our financial well-being (as a store *AND* as a family), as well as being good for the community. It is our every intention to keep the Gopher community happy, hale, and THRIVING.

With that in mind, apparently there are people who are saying that I've changed. I'm hearing folks are thinking I am becoming less of a friend, and more of a businessman, and that I am detaching from them in the process. To some extent, they're correct. I have detached myself a bit, mostly due to the overwhelming amount of time it takes to run a store like what we have. I don't have the time to hang out like I would like to because I am currently at the store 70+ hours a week. On the evenings I do get off, most of these friends are either gaming in the store, or busy with other aspects of their own lives, be it work, family, other friends, or whatever. Even when we are at the store together, there is so much work to do for the store that I don't get to just hang/game with these folks as much as I'd like. There are so many of those times it that makes me physically ache... I miss just being a husband, a father, a gamer, and a friend... Hell, I miss being able to have taco parties at my house...

Then I begin to think about what would happen if the store goes belly up because I neglected some important aspect of it in order to just chill... and that thought hurts me even more because I will have left these very good friends of mine without a place to hang out and enjoy each other's company. There is so much life, laughter, and joy that has spilled out into this store that I am humbled by it. I am thankful to God *EVERY DAY* for placing me in a position to steward such a wonderful place where folks can get together, laugh, joke around, and ENJOY LIFE WITH EACH OTHER.

However, running this place takes major sacrifice. Sacrifice that I make daily and willingly, out of love for what we have here at Gopher...

So please... trust me when I say that any decision Loquacious, and I make in regard to the future of this business is made for the good of everyone who enjoys what we have going at Armored Gopher Games, be they Original Gophers, New Gophers, or gophers we haven't met yet...

-- GopherDave

Day 316 of 362

Took a bit to get going and get settled into my day at the store. We have a couple of Pathfinder Society tables running, as well as a D&D4E campaign, and some Monsterpocalypse about to start. I've already answered a couple of texts from people looking for particular MtG cards, and am just sort of easing into some other work.

More and more responses are coming in from our "You Tell Us!" post at the store website. The feedback has been great, and Loq and I are taking everything we can into consideration. As I stated in yesterday's entry, decisions like this are incredibly difficult to make from a business perspective. Especially for a person like myself who has little to no buisness training. I am running everything from my gut and very basic financial experience.

Anytime before a decision of this magnitude happens, and I go to step off of the provebial cliff, I always wonder if I'm a lemming about to plummet or an eagle ready to soar... and I've typically got no way to know until I take that first step...

-- GopherDave