I'm bored.

Greg

2009 is nearly over and I've been in a reflective mood lately. I have to say I've had a pretty good year overall and I've managed to made a small dent in my cumulative debt. I haven't made this public before, but in the past seven years or so DreamHaven lost roughly $300,000.00. That was the main reason I leapt at the chance to sell the old building and downsize the store. I debated closing altogether but I wanted to continue for a while longer before I "retire"*. If I had simply moved the store to cheaper quarters I would have continued to lose money and be back in the same situation as before. I made the painful decision to lay off the employees and and go it alone. I tried to do this in an honorable way but at least one ex-employee still won't speak to me.

In selling the building I was able to pay the store's debt, pay our home mortgage, buy a new, smaller building, put a bit of money away for retirement and still manage to give my laid-off employees a three month severance and pay their medical insurance. I was able to exit a bad, and growing worse, situation with some dignity and have a bit of hope for the future. I still had a loss for 2008 but 2009 actually made a bit of a profit. I have to pay back the loan I made the store or I'll be taxed on it as a profit for DreamHaven (a corporation wholly owned by me). So I still have a bit of work to do in paying myself the money back but at least I have no other debt to worry about. I feel great about that.

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year. We all need it.

Be well.

Greg

*"retire" for me will mean not having a retail store but just selling books via mail-order and at conventions.

I made it back only using one flight and a few hours. And no terrorist threats. Yah! Now I'm sitting here at the store waiting for 1600 lbs. of books to arrive. It's snowing.

Today, Wednesday, is a comics skip day. No new comics. But I'm having a BIG SALE on graphic novels. Buy 2, get 1 Free of equal or lesser value. The sale is today only. No special orders or hold box GNs included. Used paperback are also still only a buck.

I'll do some year-end analysis later.

Cheers.

Greg

Somali immigrants(*). Never seen snow before, and then they try driving in it.

Today's speech: "Okay, see this? [sliding boot around in tire-spinout hole] You had no traction. Sometime today, get to a Target [yeah, no bias] or a hardware store like THAT ONE OVER THERE [pointing to the ACE Hardware a block away] and get a shovel [not like this broken plastic one that some cute chick in a nearby apartment building brought over], rock salt, and sand or kitty litter. Ask them and they'll tell you what you need. Allright? Good luck."

(*-A guess. I didn't ask, and he didn't say. Don't really care either, for all I know, the guy was from Florida...)