Another Long Night...

Things are very tired in Gopher-land currently. With Friday Night Magic and the after-FNM event, we were here until sometime after 3AM. Part of that was due to UPS not bringing our shipment here until almost 6PM. I was not about to mess with it so close to FNM start time, so we threw it in the office for me to play with when I had a chance.

I have more shelves, hooks, and brackets ordered for the slatwall that we put up last week. I also have three bookshelves coming to be a place for the RPGs (new and used). The last major things that need to be acquired are some storage/filing/shelving units for use directly behind the check-out counter. After that, it will all be "polishing" and little upgrades. Things are moving forward and getting done thanks to the Gophers. Without their support, be it labor, emotional, or sales, this couldn't happen.

Today looks to be mellow, with not much happening other than one event tonight (MtG: Mirage-block booster draft, for those who are interested). We look to be home relatively early tonight. I am catching up on some stuff, and then looking to relax when I get home.

-- GopherDave

Babbling About Nothing...

It's Friday, so that means Friday Night magic. It also means just being busy as it gets. I've got some stuff to catch up on and what not, but nothing too pressing. I have also realized that I will be gone for a bit in less than two weeks (is it really that soon?). We'll see how that goes.

I'd write more, but not much has happened in the last day or so of note other than I got to go home early last night. Go me..?

Rest, when you're not used to it, is weird...

-- GopherDave

Here's To Busy...

Okay, as we have grown a bit, gotten some of the remodeling done, and just in general are slowly becoming a better game store, we have shifted some of how we do things around here.

Until recently, our ordering pattern looked like this...

• Primary Distributor: One large order a week.
• Secondary Distributor: One small order every two or three weeks.
• Tertiary Distributor(s): About one order a month.
• Games Workshop: One very small order a week.
• Wizards of the Coast: One large (for us) order of M:tG cards about once a month.

Now, with business increasing, our order pattern is looking something like...

• Primary Distributor: Two smaller orders a week
• Secondary Distributor: Usually an order a week, but occasionally not.
• Tertiary Distributors: We now have three of these folks, and they each get about an order a month out of us.
• Games Workshop: Still typically one small order a week.
• Wizards of the Coast: A medium-sized order of newer M:tG cards about every other week.

This means that we typically have something coming in every day at the store. It makes for busy times, but it's worth it. The orders are smaller, so they don't take as long to process. Special orders are taking less time to get here, which means that customers who order stuff from us are experiencing shorter waits for their items. They have noticed and chimed in, as well. It tells me we are on the right path.

There's still more work to go, and some work that will be perpetual (sorting MtG cards, anyone), but it is all worth it, because the Gophers that frequent our store are all worth it. Thanks, folks.

-- GopherDave

Things and Stuff...

Okay... It's mid-afternoon at the store, and looking at my to-do list, it's looking like I will be here for a bit. There's a lot of things on it and I am limited to the speed of "various interruptions".

Last night I got to play the second incarnation of Gazdok once again. For those who do not know, Gazdok is a PathfinderRPG character I played in KnightErrantJR's Rise of the Runelord campaign right up until the entire party got wiped. He's a half-orc rogue who's more thug than finesse. Gazdok speaks in broken common, refers to himself in the third person, and his idea of stealth is to walk up to the person he's trying to sneak by, grab them by the shirt and scream "YOU DIDN'T SEE ME!!!" loudly and in the most intimidating manner possibly. Strangely enough, it works better than you would think.

Anyway, BigJ is running a Pathfinder game, and is in fact running Rise of the Runelords as his adventure path. There have been some tweaks here and there, plus we are still in the beginning of the first adventure, which takes place in the time BEFORE I had joined KnightErrantJR's game, so this part is still new to me. I'm certain we'll get to a part where I have played, and then have to play dumb for a bit, but we're not there yet. Last night was a blast, and it's sometimes enlightening re-visiting a character with a new group of people/players. My thoughts about Gazdok are fairly fleshed out with the first time I played him, but interacting with new people is bringing out new wrinkles I hadn't considered before.

Just some thoughts...

-- GopherDave

Odd Has Already Happened, So What's Next..?

I dig the various types of "weaves" of yellow in this tie. Definitely makes you pay attention...

As I was getting dressed this morning, Dinero began to bark in a low, warning-like manner. I went to investigate and found some woman snooping around our house. Turns out she had seen our place as "up for rent" on our rental company's website (which is HORRIBLY outdated) and decided to check it out without contacting them about availability. She apologized and drove off, but it's still an odd way to start off a morning.

Yesterday went well. I spent some time doing orders at the store then went home and spent some time with Loq and the kids. Ice cream was involved. It was fun...

-- GopherDave

Getting Things Done...



Things are progressing nicely here at Casa Gopher. We did the construction part of phase three of the remodel. Today, Loq and I came in early and did a little clean-up with HiSign. Then I went off to a game and Loq went home. Once game was over, I came back to the store, changed clothes (see above), and started my work evening.

Now that I'm here, Once I finish the blog thing, I'll be sketching out what we need fixture wise (shelves, brackets, cabinets, etc.) to complete phase three. Hopefully after completing that, sometime this week I can work on removing the external credit card machine and work a barcode reader into the new point-of-sale system so we can process credit cards directly through the computer.

Then it will be onto the next thing... and the thing after that... and the thing after that...

The work is never ending, but it's also rewarding...

-- GopherDave