Woof...

Okay... I'm exhausted... and there's more where that came from. Business has been good though over the last couple of days, so I can't complain too much. Down economy? We're not seeing it right now...

Trying to get some things put together in my work life that will make my personal life better, but it's all gonna take work. I don't how much is left in the tank to get it all done, but I'm certainly going to try.

Finally, my gaming calendar gets another notch in it as I'm joining a Pathfinder RPG game here this Tuesday. It's not my first choice in games (I'm really fantasied out)... honestly, it's not even my fourth choice... but there are a couple of things driving me to this game. One, it involves folks that I've never gamed with before, and I'm always down for a new group. Two, it's being run off site, so I can get some gaming in that should be relatively uninterrupted. I need that... I really do...

-- GopherDave

I'm Late! I'm Late! So What Else Is New..?

Okay... it's time for a new Magic: the Gathering set. Which means I don't have time for much else, since I also have errands that I need to run before we open in 80 minutes. Later...

-- GopherDave

It All Rolls Downhill...

Okay... We're caught up from the convention... We've gotten mostly set with the new point-of-sale system... What's next??? New Magic: the Gathering release? When? *THIS* Friday?!?!? GAH!!!

Will this avalanche of "busy" never end? A guy's gotta catch up on sleep *sometime*...

That all being said, as a merchant, I'd rather be too busy than not busy at all. Not being busy is bad, mmm'kay...

Hopefully in the next week or so, we can complete phase two of the remodel by making the point of sale fully wireless save for power cords. When that gets done, it'll be time for phase three, moving the cash station from where it is now to one of the front corners of the store once we get a bit more slatwall up. With that, the physical remodel will be pretty much complete.

However, I'm certain something else will find its way down the hill toward me by the time that happens...

-- GopherDave

I'm A Bit Tired, But We're *ALMOST* There...

HiSign and I worked from 11PM to 5AM last night/this morning trying to get everything up and running with the new point of sale system. It works, but it's a physical mess, with wires everywhere in a space that's way too small for it. We'll be working on that part in the next couple of days.

As it goes, we're behind on it enough to alter our hours today to not be open until 3PM today. Loquacious tried to get me to sleep more by turning off my alarm before she left, but my 40+ year-old bodily functions woke me up right on time. Nice try, though, sweetness... =)

Now, I am getting ready to go in and try to finish what we started. Hopefully I can get the orders done, some more receipt tape purchased, the rest of the front stock entered, and everybody's tabs and credit moved over before open. Otherwise, I'm a bit tired and cranky and I might snap at someone without meaning too, and that's no good...

So, I'm off to be productive on three hours of sleep. Wish me luck...

-- GopherDave

Phase 2 Starts Tonight...

Tonight, once the store closes, we will do a hard count and enter it into the new Point-of-Sale... Then, we will have that thing set up and ready to go, and I will add things like tabs and credit from the old system over the next couple of days. Once it's up and running, we will add the function to take credit cards to the system directly, and then make the whole system wireless so we can move it... once that is all done, we'll proceed to phase three. That phase includes more slatwall, another new counter, and moving everything over to the front corner of the store.

There will be other stuff after that... Like Phase Four, where we replace some trash cans and tables and add locks to the some of the interior doors. Or Phase Five, where we get things settled and I get to take a whole day off every now and then... or Phase Eighty-Seven, when 'Gopher takes over the moon... =P

-- GopherDave

After Armageddon...

Okay... We're back... -ish... The early part of today HiSign and I finished putting the store back together from the convention. Mostly putting away back stock, breaking down boxes for storage, and throwing away trash.

Numbers-wise, we were up 15% over last year, and last year wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was pretty good. I believe we are reaching a plateau in terms of business numbers for the convention. We've showed steady growth for four years, and this year, while up, felt "even". While doing good business, this year felt easy. Like we've done this before and it's no big thing. Now, with five years of doing this, we and the Gophers have it down. Things went pretty damn smoothly with the only hiccups on our end being arriving at the convention too early to set up and forgetting extension cords and power strips back at the store.

Through it all, hiring HiSign has been one of the best moves we've ever made. His calm, relatively even demeanor (compared to Loq and myself, and even Skribl, who are quite passionate) and his ability to do whatever is asked of him to a very high standard has made *MY* job easier. Eventually, he'll make my life easier once we get the new point of sale in and I can feel settled there...

Now I'm off to find dinner for myself and the kids...

-- GopherDave

Yearly Armageddon -- Day 3

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! The *bright*... It burns us so!!!

Once more we venture out into the land of "not enough sleep". Ugh... Not awake, but I am  mobile...

I wish I had more to say currently, but my head is still foggy. Suffice it to say that the convention is going well, our M:tG event did splendidly, and all things are proceeding according to schedule.

Depending on how I feel tonight, I may blog about other stuff, but no guarantees.

On a cool note, I did have a young man ask me "Are YOU the Armored Gopher?"

I smiled and said "Yes... Yes, I am"...

And while it was a great feeling, bewteen you and me, I'd currently trade armor for sleep...

-- GopherDave

Yearly Armageddon -- Day 2

Some gray... some blue... some black on the bottom... not bad, if I do say so myself...

It's early in the day as I write this part... after some events happen and I take some more pictures, I'll elaborate a bit...

Let's just set this up by saying that myself, Skribl, and HiSign will be running an MtG Pre-Release tourney at the store, while Loquacious, K, and KnightErrantJR watch the booth at the convention until I can get there.

...And I would add pictures from both the pre-release and the convention if I hadn't left the memory stick for the camera at home... sigh... If that's the only thing that goes wrong today, it'll be a good day...

Pre release is good though... We went four deep into our list of alternates as we had two "call-offs", one late, and one dropped. Thus, we have thirty-six people in the store slingin' Magic cards...

The convention seems to be going well, based on Loq's reports. I'll find out more when I get there...

...and I'm there... Based on my overview of the room, things seem down quite a bit. When I checked the numbers, though, it seems that we're up about 25% over last year. Oddly enough, convention attendance is down about the same percentage, but they are setting records for the number of "butts in seats" playing games during many of the slots...

Finally, I do one thing to add... If you run a business with some form of remote sales (such as conventions or open markets), if you haven't already done so, get yourself a Square. Ours have been a dream and I can't imagine doing sales at a convention without them...

--- GopherDave