fontosaurus

Lately, my apartment has fallen into a state of disarray, and that's been bothering me. The past year or so, I've gotten religious about keeping it clean. So last night, while the Vikes alternated between awesome and awful, I vacuumed, straightened things up, changed the litterbox, and took out the trash. And then I contemplated the reason that things have gone the way they have. Self analysis would indicate that with my move coming up in a month, that I am in a position where I believe that it's too much effort to clean something that's going to be an utter disaster soon anyway. I'm going to fight that mindset because I hate clutter.

I finally had a brilliant idea for a Halloween costume. It's going to take some SERIOUS DOING and probably won't be ready until 2009 or 2010, but it's going to be so unbelievably awesome that you'll shit when you finally see it. It's going to require taking some pre-existing 3D models, scaling them up, doing some CAD/CAM magic, and having parts cut from aluminum, but it should look seriously awesome when I'm finished. If I actually go the route of doing this, and it's a serious MAYBE right now, there will be a lot of pictures posted, and probably 15-30 minutes of Internet fame. (Plus I'll publicly share the HOWTO and the CAD files.)

Money has only been a mild concern for me lately -- even with the market tanking. Having my divorce settlement paid off at the beginning of September went a long way toward improving my financial situation, and I've used the freed-up money to start paying down other bills. Kate and I moving in together is going to help things significantly as well. We're going to spend the first three months making minimum payments and socking away money so that we have a small nest egg to cover us should things go south. (The good news is that she works for one of the most-stable banks in the U.S. -- Wells Fargo. That I'm a contractor at a Fortune 500 company that's laid off full-time staff also bodes well -- during rough economic patches, contractors usually see an improvement in employability. And I've landed in a position where if I am gone, the whole game changes for the worse.) I've been saving cash lately, and today I started buying up stocks now that they're good values. Apple saw an infusion of cash from me. Not much, granted, but it should keep Steve Jobs' jet aloft for a few hours.

As for the idea of opening my own bike shop, well, it's taken on a few twists of late, and I think that it's a realistic goal in the next 3 years. I've buckled-down and have given up on the crazy idea of a SuperShop on day one. I'm going to start more modestly, obviously, and do so not in Uptown, as planned, but in Northeast, where a lease will be less expensive, and I'll be closer to home. I'm going to get some of my marketing materials done over the course of the next week, and have started diddling with the code for my service management software. I've got a whole task list of things that have to be done prior to opening the shop, and I'm getting as many of them out of the way as possible.

First Order of Business: I used to think I was the bizity-bizomb when it came to shitty customer service. This one wins, hands down. Gord, you should drop the "r". You are truly deserving of the Randall Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dealing with Shithead Customers. You're an inspiration.

I Really Need to Start Designing Fonts Again: I've been kinda lagging on that lately. Depression from the fruitless job hunt is probably a contributing factor. I have some cool art deco fonts in progress and I owe Chank a few glyphs for a new flavor of Garamond we're (the ChankArmy) working on.

Fucking Bookstores: I bought the Cocoa programming book at the Apple Store in the Mall of America today. $35 + tax. Okay. I figured they needed the money on the sale more than B&N did. I like to be loyal to the people that returned my iBook fully fixed in less than 48 hours. But c'mon people, 1.) Amazon's got it for $24 + shipping, and 2.) if I'm going to be developing for your platform you ought to at least recognize that and undercut the cost a bit. I mean, shit, it's skimpy and not very useful and you're charging $35? Christ, $35 can get you some phat O'Reilly's books. (This one was from O'Reilly's too...why the price discrepancy? I have no clue.)

My Cat Rules: Mooch has been exceptionally cuddly today. I know not why, but I like it. She's such a sweetheart.

Know Anyone With Money? More specifically, know anyone with a ton of money that would be willing to invest in or be an "angel" to a bike shop? I need about $1.5 million to buy a building, get initial inventory, and hire employees. I have spent most of my life around bikes, raced, even worked in a bike shop for a few years. I want one of my own. I love it.

I'm Going to Bed Now. There's nothing more to this post. You can leave now. Someone send me a couple of hot pornstars (preferably Asia Carrera and oh...Sky Lopez, I guess) to keep me warm? Thank you, drive thru.