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best minimum wage job a middle aged guy ever had

  • NIghtmares of out-of-control.

    Ever woken up from a series of nightmares and the feeling continues to permeate the morning?

    I had my first nightmare of an out-of-control bookstore -- three stories, books everywhere, junk everywhere, employees ignoring it all. Typical. These kinds of dreams are actually useful, because they're warning me that' [...]
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    Posted: December 11, 2009, 1:36pm EST

  • Downtown Openings and Closings, Update.

    I guess it won't be Periwinkle #4. The new store on my street is called Laughing Girls Studio. Too bad we don't still have Wild Tasteful Women on the same street anymore.

    That makes one more store opening than closing.

    I'm thinking that can't be right, because I [...]
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    Posted: December 10, 2009, 12:15pm EST

  • False Dawn?

    Every step of this economic cycle feels familiar to me, though sometimes I have to be reminded. "Oh, yeah, " I think to myself. "This is how it happens....this is what it feels like...."

    To be clear; I haven't suffered through a 'Great Recession' before. But I have suffered' [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2009, 11:52am EST

  • Well, maybe it's a tad cold....

    The Frozen Logger

    As I set down one evening in a timber town cafe
    A six foot-seven waitress, to me these words did say
    "I see you are a logger and not a common bum
    For no one but a logger stirs his coffee with his thumb

    "My [...]
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    Posted: December 08, 2009, 11:38am EST

  • T'aint nothin'

    Having stayed home all day yesterday, watching F.B. (Missed the N.O. comeback over Wash.; turned too soon....) I thought the roads would be way worse this morning.

    Come on, that t'ain't nothin'.

    Reading all the news reports of crashes, I left ten minutes early -- and I' [...]
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    Posted: December 07, 2009, 1:56pm EST

  • Small businesses aren't buying the hype.

    A couple of very interesting articles about small business, which I've printed below, which combined with the Bulletin's article this morning (Index Reflects Region Still Reeling) ought to give anyone thinking about opening a business in Bend second thoughts.

    Thing is, people don't open business based on economic conditions.' [...]
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    Posted: December 06, 2009, 12:37pm EST

  • News fodder.

    Men of a certain age are probably not going to watch Men Of A Certain Age...

    **********

    Chris Telfer's "Untapped Millions," in the state budget. Hey, magic money is always good.

    **********

    You can't walk up Mt. Bachelor? I thought this was Forest Service land. Seems [...]
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    Posted: December 05, 2009, 11:59am EST

  • 'zine culture.

    How many of you know what a 'zine is? Raise your hands? Yes? No?

    Here's the Wiki definition:

    "A zine (an abbreviation of the word fanzine, or magazine; pronounced "zeen") is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses'" [...]

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    Posted: December 04, 2009, 6:19pm EST

  • Patience is hard.

    I'd love to jump on the "recovery" bandwagon, but I just don't see it.

    One thing is becoming ever more clear to me -- last year really, really sucked. The more time passes, the more perspective can be gained. When I see how weak business is right now, and [...]
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    Posted: December 04, 2009, 12:55pm EST

  • November sales results.

    This was unexpected.

    When I actually did the numbers, we were up in every category; comics, cards, games, toys, books.

    Except one. Magic cards.

    We were down 75% from last year and from last month. -75%. That is a terrible number, and puts me in a quandary [...]
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    Posted: December 03, 2009, 12:27pm EST

  • Say, wha?

    Contrast these two headlines.

    1.) From National Real Estate Investor, 11/25/09.
    To Buy or Not to Buy— Moody’s Weighs In on Real Estate Outlook.

    Nov 25, 2009 10:29 AM, By Denise Kalette

    Despite commercial property value declines of 42.9% from peak 2007 levels, the news is about to [...]

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    Posted: December 02, 2009, 12:45pm EST

  • Re-run.

    Just sent my orders off for January, 2010.

    I think next year is going to be a re-run of this year. I can't decide if we've taken 3 steps forward and 2 steps back, or 2 steps forward and 3 steps back.

    We beat last November's daily average [...]
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    Posted: December 01, 2009, 1:36pm EST

  • snarks

    "Combat Shopping." Term I heard for Black Friday. I like it.

    I've posted my doubts about Black Friday every year on this blog. I simply don't believe you can't get similar deals later.

    **********

    Why am I not surprised to find Upper Deck advertising on an online' [...]
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    Posted: November 30, 2009, 11:48am EST

  • Here, there, and everywhere.

    The Beatles wrote some good songs.

    **********

    I dreamed I had Japanese toilet paper.

    No, I don't know what that means.

    I dreamed I had an Arabic language Previews (my comic ordering form); and that I was testifying in Congress about it.

    And no. I' [...]
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    Posted: November 29, 2009, 11:20am EST

  • Black Friday results.

    I'm writing this on the morning of Black Friday, before I go to work.

    I'll update at the end of the day.

    My expectations are very low, today. For years now, the big boxes have clamped a lock on this weekend's sales. Downtown Bend gets pretty good foot [...]
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    Posted: November 28, 2009, 12:00pm EST

  • Hanging in there.

    I wrote the following about a year and a half ago. At the time, I thought it might seem too egotistical. But...you know what? it seems truthful to me. And more true than ever. I've now blogged for 3 straight years, I've not missed a day of blogging since I [...]
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    Posted: November 27, 2009, 12:12pm EST

  • Happy................3rd Year Anniversary.

    Coincidentally, I started Best Minimum Wage Job a Middle-Aged Guy Ever Had on November 26, 2006.

    Hard to remember now, that I actually started a few days before Bend Bubble 2 did; we were both spin-offs from Bend Economy Man's initial blog. We turned out to be more right [...]
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    Posted: November 26, 2009, 1:07pm EST

  • Dreams.

    Linda and I watched a Nova program last night about dreams.

    Dreams have always been one of Linda's interests; she even put on some dream workshops in the '90's.

    So before I went to bed, I decided I was going to try to remember my night's dreaming [...]
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    Posted: November 25, 2009, 11:22am EST

  • How low can they go?

    Here's a statement to reckon with:

    "Our company is based on low prices. Even in books, we kept going until we were the low-priced leader. And with will do that in every category if we need to."

    Raul Vazquez, president and chief executive of Walmart.com. (This mornings Bulletin.)
    [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2009, 11:52am EST

  • Just what's going on.

    Sunday felt like my first real day off in a long time.

    I feel a need to get back to my core interests, one of which is reading, and I've been on a bookish jag lately and it feels good.

    Liz opened the store yesterday. Don't know how [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 11:13am EST

  • A Turning Point.

    I'll be keeping this entry short and directing those of you with stout hearts and strong stomachs and feeble minds and a hazy grasp on political correctness over to Bend Bubble 2 for Paul-do's last Rant.

    Don't know why he's so eager to quit. Seems like he has much [...]
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    Posted: November 22, 2009, 11:51am EST

  • Never mind the Viper.

    I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I had several different people during the boom years tell me I should get 'into' the housing game. I suppose, since I own a business, they actually thought I had money.

    Anyway, about the time someone like me is' [...]
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    Posted: November 21, 2009, 12:30pm EST

  • Oh....NOW I see.

    What can one know about a town theseadays, just driving around?

    I think maybe in the old days it was a bit easier. There would be the downtown district, usually consisting of retail; surrounded by a halo of churches and old government buildings, then housing and rentals. In [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 1:28pm EST

  • A-wandering S.F.

    Well, it's good to get out of town and visit someplace very different to get a perspective.

    As I said yesterday, my memory of the trip to San Francisco will be traffic, traffic, traffic. I'll never complain about traffic in Bend again. I'll never ask where people learned to' [...]
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    Posted: November 19, 2009, 12:08pm EST

  • Long walk to a shallow pond.

    Of all things, Linda forgot to check Lois's safe deposit box while she was in S.F., so we decided to make a trip of it. We drove down on Sunday, stopping Vallejo. As is our custom, we checked for used bookstores, but there weren't any -- in a town one' [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2009, 11:14am EST

  • Mix and Match.

    I've decided to try something different with employees this time.

    I think I'm going to hire two or three young people who can work anywhere from half a day, to a day each; none of which are depending on me for a living, either because they already have [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2009, 11:46am EST

  • Flu--noia.

    I've come down with the Flu -- Paranoia.

    Not the actual flu, just the paranoia. I seem to have many small allergies, and each of them are magnified into the Beginning of the End.

    Uh, oh, I sneezed......

    From past experience with the flu,' [...]
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    Posted: November 16, 2009, 11:20am EST

  • Downtown Comings and Goings,

    With the new addition of Lemon Drop, there are now as exactly as many new businesses as there are businesses who have left.

    39

    Seems like high turnover, to me, but I have no historical record to compare it with, which is one of the reasons I [...]
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    Posted: November 15, 2009, 11:33am EST

  • Misc. Things.

    Finished Imperium by Robert Harris, which ends at the high point of Cicero's life, when he is elected Consul. He foils Crassus and Pompey, and Caesar is indeed the man behind the curtain. Went to Wiki, and checked the 'rest of the story.'

    Cicero met a bad end.
    [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 11:29am EST

  • New clothes, new car, new me.

    Greenie is now mine. Linda bought her car, another Toyota, and since it will be the car that we take on trips, it won't be long before it has more miles than Greenie. My car is a 1999, and yet only has 23,000 miles on it. Like the last decade' [...]
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    Posted: November 13, 2009, 11:51am EST

  • Extrapolations.

    Extrapolations. I was going to title this, "Simple Math", but I like the word extrapolations...

    So the housing inventory "plummets" in Bend? (Bulletin, 11/12/09)

    Pardon me if I doubt it.

    It seems to me a little simple math could have been applied to this assertion. How many [...]
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    Posted: November 12, 2009, 11:27am EST

  • For me, shopping is newsworthy.

    Linda and I took a little walkabout yesterday. We didn't get very far; we checked out Minnesota Street. You'd think, having a store on the block, I would've been well acquainted with all the stores, but I'm working, working, working.

    I've started giving myself all of Tuesday and half' [...]
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    Posted: November 11, 2009, 12:31pm EST

  • Personal vs. Local vs. National

    When I first started this blog, I really didn't expect anyone would read it. Me and maybe an occasional accidental hit and maybe Linda when she felt like it. Perhaps a few of my customers, who would quickly lose interest because I really don't talk about books and comics and [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 12:31pm EST

  • Don't Mean A Thing. It Means Everything.

    You know all those statements that the recession is over?

    Don't mean a thing.

    Kindle and Nook?

    Don't mean a thing.

    Mass market dinosaurs arriving or leaving town?

    Don't mean a thing.


    Look, I'm into long term planning more than most. I'm always' [...]
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    Posted: November 10, 2009, 11:33am EST

  • CRE creeping.

    I've been trying to understand the mechanisms of Commercial Real Estate for a couple of years now, because I've been concerned that Bend is completely overbuilt. The Nov. 6th entry of Financial Armageddon is a primer for the mechanics of CRE, gathering together 6 different articles on CRE. It's worth' [...]
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    Posted: November 09, 2009, 11:12am EST

  • Mansion on the Hill.

    "Hey, Don! I noticed you aren't living on the Mansion on the Hill anymore."

    "Too much upkeep, Poindexter. I didn't want to be tethered to it any more. Besides, it kept getting hit by golf balls, and I kept having to see people in plaid shirts and white shoes" [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 1:44pm EST

  • Fish eat fish world.

    Usually Walmart hunts down, destroys and devours one industry at a time. They did a pretty good job on the toy market a few years ago, putting Toysrus in intensive care, and killing off FAO Scwartz and KB Toys.

    This year they seem to be taking a scattershot approach, [...]
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    Posted: November 08, 2009, 12:22pm EST

  • We're all in someone else's box.

    I've started reading a historical novel by Robert Harris, Imperium. The main protagonist is a young Cicero.

    Historicals are always tricky for me, because my image of major historical characters is so outsized. Cicero is young and callow, so I'm O.K. so far, but I'll be interested to see' [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 1:56pm EST

  • Our little Peyton Place.

    So Tami Sawyer is the "Jane Doe" who "filed a malpractice lawsuit against the man whose lawsuit against her company nearly landed her in jail for contempt of court." Bend Bulletin, 11/7/09.

    The lawsuit alleges that he had "consensual sexual relationship with her..."

    Wow.

    And to think [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 12:15pm EST

  • Boom and Bust.

    Back about three years ago, when some of us were suspecting we were in the midst of a bubble that was about to burst, we were trying to imagine what would happen to downtown Bend.

    There were some of us that remembered the early 80's and were fearful of' [...]
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    Posted: November 07, 2009, 11:56am EST

  • Hey, Wife! Leave my routine alone!

    Every morning, I stumble out of bed, pour myself a huge mug (we bought in Joseph, Ore) of coffee, and go down to my office.

    I turn up the heat, wrap myself in a cosy blanket, and lean back in my chair, and turn on the computer.

    I [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 1:35pm EST

  • Random fodder.

    It's nice that R.Crumb's Book of Genesis has become a bestseller. It would be even nicer If I Could Get Some Copies to Sell!!

    **********

    Up on the retailer Bulletin boards are requests for copies of Doom Patrol #4, with or without the rings.

    I've' [...]
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    Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:35pm EST

  • Downtown comings and goings, update updated...

    I know I did one of these updates just a couple of days ago, but I just found an ad in this week's Source announcing the reopening of The Curiosity Shoppe on Nov. 6th.

    "The new and revitalized Curiosity Shoppe prevails. We look forward to meeting new friends and'" [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:17am EST

  • Lap Dancing at the (Mt.) Bachelor (Academy) Party

    Am I the first one to notice this?

    On the front page of the Huffington Post, there is an article entitled: REALLY SPECIAL EDUCATION.

    "Are lap dances an effective therapy for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or drug addiction? It doesn't seem like a question that should require a serious'" [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:15pm EST

  • A bank to reckon with...

    Cascade Bancorp just seems to be in the wind these days.

    I've never paid attention to a single stock before, but I doubt most stocks experience the gyrations that I've observed with CACB over the last month or two. It appears to me that there has been a real [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:51am EST

  • Downtown comings and goings, updated.

    The new store across the street with a doggie theme is called Dog Patch.

    I need to sell them a Li'll Abner graphic novel...

    A business opening on Brooks called Wabi Sabi, which is a Japanese equivelent term to fung shui, I guess. This may or may not' [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:28am EST

  • Stuff and stuff.

    The NWX gaming lounge profiled in the Bulletin today is actually the 3rd gaming lounge in Bend. Along with Cat6 there is a new lounge in the east of Bend called Dark Horse Games.

    I have no idea how viable one of these places are, much less three.
    [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:15pm EST

  • October results.

    Sales were down exactly 1% from last October, and since the store did that number in four less days of the month, and because last October was a real outlier -- less than half the declines of the surrounding four months -- I have to consider this October a real [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 12:00pm EST

  • Oh, hell, a political post....

    It's funny, or it would be funny if it wasn't so sad, that the right wingnuts have Obama as some radical character.

    I think he's fundamentally an establishment guy.

    Why wouldn't he be?

    It worked for him!!

    I think his instinct is to listen to the [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 1:54pm EST

  • Just don't do it.

    This will be a forlorn little wimpet of a post, cause I know that I'm the only retailer out there who thinks this way and talks about it.

    Booksellers! Don't Buy the 9.00 books from Amazon, Walmart and Target!

    Every book you buy simply reinforces the trend!
    [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:42am EST
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