When my vision doesn’t cooperate, like over the past few days, I spend less time at the computer and the time that I do spend there I get less done since it takes me longer to read.  It gets pretty frustrating.  It seems I need help from Eliz or the kids to get even the simplest of tasks done.  Tonight, Jane and I looked through some inventory to pick out some specials for ForYourSalon.com (we ended up adding the 1189 flat iron from Hot Tools, the Turbo Silverado hair dryer, the One ‘n Only Acid Extra Body perm, and Hair Rescue Intense Clarifying Treatment from Zotos to our specials.)  I have to tell you that I get pleasure when I can accomplish something on my own.

Tonight I realized how poor my vision was.  While flipping through the channels, I saw that Ingloourious Basterds was on.  Eliz and I watched that movie in late April, just after my surgery.  I absolutely loved it.  The best part of it then was I was actually able to read most of the subtitles on my own.  That wasn’t the case tonight, so I didn’t watch it.

My Inglourious Sight is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: Basterds, body perm, hair rescue, internet marketing conference, screen, sight, summit east, television, tomorrow, vision

I’ve been wanting to go to Affiliate Summit East in New York since I learned about it a few months ago.  My one big problem was how.  If Eliz went with me, how would we run ForYourSalon.com and ship orders?  And, more importantly, even if we conceded that there will probably be few orders since it is the middle of August, what would we do with the kids?  Also, since Eliz was going to assist me, I didn’t think it would be fair to have to pay for her.  If I could go on my own, I would.  (The last time I did something like this on my own was in January 2001.  I flew to Miami for a Taylor Rental event – we were interested in purchasing the one in Media and my prospective partner bailed on the event two days before we were to leave.  I went anyway and had a very tough time getting around the airport, hotel, and event, even though my vision was substantially better than today – between 20/80 – 20/100.)

Fortunately, after an email to #ASE10, I was able to work something out on entry fee for Eliz by providing a letter from one of my eye doctors.  Conveniently, I had an appointment with Dr. Ayres, the cornea specialist this past week and he agreed to write the letter for me (more on the appointment later.)  I’d like to thank Amy from Affiliate Summit for all her help!

The big question was about the kids.  Do we take them and let them take in the sights of NYC on their own?  The Museum of Modern Art is across the street from where the event will be held and 5th Ave is only a block away.  The bottom line was that we didn’t feel comfortable with that and thought it would be too great of a distraction for us.  We’ll take the kids back another time.  Eliz’s mother (Grandmere to the kids) will sleep here the two nights we won’t be here.  She’ll also grab dinner for them.  As she says, she’ll supervise not babysit.

So, along with doing my normal routine of communicating with customers, updating shipping status’, and helping Eliz with the heavier deliveries, I was also constantly checking  Hotels.com (Hotels.com by city, dates and number of guests) for a place to stay since I missed out on the good deals through the event at the New York Hilton, where the event is being held.  I just couldn’t pay $400 per night plus taxes to stay there… So, the post is sponsored by Hotels.com.

I also had a few things to do for Digital Graphics Design, Media's premier web development firm specializing in e-commerce development, corporate identity, and web hosting solutions."> Digital Graphics Design. The main item was end of the month invoicing. We had picked up a couple more hosting accounts, plus Dan had completed some updates for current clients. While my title is president, my actions are primarily as bookkeeper… Dan did get a lead for an e-commerce, so Dan, Ken, and I kicked around pricing for that after doing some research on what the prospective client wants. Keep your fingers crossed… In other spare time, I’ve been helping a friend who just opened a shop by creating a logo and working on a website for her. I really miss doing that, but I don’t feel my work is up to par to actually charge for it.

This past Wednesday afternoon, I had an appointment with Dr. Ayres, as I mentioned above. There wasn’t much of a change. The eye chart seemed a bit blurrier than at my appointment a few weeks earlier with Dr. Garg. I could read the E, but the S in the SL line was difficult for me. I’m not sure if I would’ve been able to read it if I didn’t know what it was. Dr. Ayres had a look and we spoke about the fluctuation in my vision. He had Gordon do some sort of scan to measure my cornea. They used a machine they were trying out and he hoped that he’d still have it at my next appointment to get another scan at a different time of day. Looking into the machine, I saw what looked like one of the flowers on the Mystery Machine. Zoinks! While I was having the scan done, Eliz asked Dr. Ayres about writing the letter for the Affiliate Summit. When we returned to Pod 2 (I still don’t know why they don’t call them EyePod 1, 2, and 3…) Dr Ayres and I talked about the letter. He told me to continue on the eye drops and come back in six weeks, in the morning. So while there weren’t any miraculous breakthroughs on why my vision can’t get back to where it was just after the surgery in mid-April, I wasn’t really expecting too much and my IOP remains stead at eight, which is good considering it could get wacky (cuckoo bananas?) because of the drops that I’m on. As promised, Dr. Ayres had the letter to me by the next morning.

It’ll be interesting to see if this week is as frantic as last week. Since both kids are away, it will certainly be more quiet here.

What a Busy Week is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: Amy, com, cornea specialist, Dr. Ayres, Eliz, event, eye doctors, grandmere, Miami, museum of modern art, New York, something, summit east, time

My parents hadn’t been here in a long time, since we usually go to them (and my mother doesn’t like doing the drive) and my dad has been interested in seeing our house again.  He is becoming more forgetful over the past months, which even he recognizes.  I have been complaining (hey, it’s what I do best) lately about the state of our house and he wanted to see it first hand, so we picked them up and brought them over.

Since we’ve moved Salon Supplies + Interiors and ForYourSalon.com out of the now condemned rental space in Folcroft and work it primarily from our home office, our home has been overwhelmed with computers, beauty supplies, and even some salon equipment (hydraulic styling chairs make a unique second row of seating to watch movies or sporting events on the big screen.)  Anyway, as we receive orders from manufacturers and vendors, we bring them home, sort them, and add them to our inventory.  If I walked into our kitchen at this moment, I’d be shocked if there wasn’t at least a couple of beauty related items in there, if not a case or three.  (I had to look…  Only one item in the kitchen — a bowl bracket for a Belvedere 3100 shampoo bowl which we are shipping via UPS Ground to Hawaii.  I’m not sure how that works, but that’s another story.)  Within arms length of me at this moment, there is a sample of Fabulous Hair Argan Oil Plus (which we may start selling) and Ship-Shape Liquid Professional Surface Cleaner (which has to be added to our inventory on ForYourSalon.com.)

My parents entered through our garage (which up until yesterday, we hadn’t parked in since late March) and noticed some of our inventory which doesn’t need climate control temps, but sells well enough to not have to run to Springfield (where we have some leased space) and bring it back to ship it.  They also saw boxes of business documents from the past three or four years.  Through in a few of our personal items like bikes, snow shovels, gardening tools, toys — well, you get the idea.  Did I mention it is a three car garage?  Of course, most of what my dad focused on was inventory.  He was surprised.  We walked through the laundry room into the kitchen and kids greeted us.  The kids and my parents talked for a couple of minutes, then I continued to walk around the house with my dad.  We’ve been here 17 years and we are well overdue for some new paint, new rugs, and a redo for the hardwood floors, which, even with his diminished eye sight, my dad noticed.

We walked out the front door and he had a look around the front and side yards, which our lawn guy had just taken care of the past week, so it looked nice.  All along the way, I was near my dad making sure he didn’t trip over a root of a tree or into a flower bed.  It seemed funny, because it is just like what Eliz or the kids do for me when we are out and about.  The difference being that I’ve already stumbled on the root or into the flower bed or hit my head on a low branch and know where not to walk…  As we headed back in the front door, I point out the small step onto the landing by the front door and then the step into the house.

Back inside, my dad wants a look upstairs.  We go up the front stairs since there is two small landings (the backstairs is one long run and I wouldn’t have been comfortable heading up that way.)  He looked in Jake’s room, then Jane’s, then our “guest” room.  It really isn’t for guests, but has an elliptical machine, exercise bike, and four drying racks where we dry most of our clothes.  He recognizes the bureau in there from our house in Wallingford.  When we get to our bedroom, my dad also recognizes the wall units in the sitting area, also from our house in Wallingford.  As we head back down the stairs, I want to stay close to my dad, but not too close where I might bump him or kick him (I have trouble judging distances and am constantly reaching further than I have to for door knobs, light switches, etc. and jamming my fingers.)  We make it down safely, then eat dinner.

After dinner, he wants a look in the basement.  There aren’t any handrails down those steps since we removed them to get some shelving down there.  I walk in front of my dad and go down backwards so I can tell him where the landings are.  I show him the inventory that we have there on one side of the basement, but not the 17 years of “stuff” on the other side.  Eliz has the inventory side pretty organized at this point and my dad is amazed how it looks like a little warehouse.

We head back up the stairs, my dad, then me.  Again, I’m close in case he stumbles.  My dad is 92 and a fall for him could be catastrophic.  I start thinking that me leading him around and trying to tell him about obstacles was like the blind leading the blind.  Literally.

The Blind Leading the Blind is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: dad, door, fabulous hair, Hawaii, house, inventory, Jake, Jane, professional surface, shampoo bowl, ship shape, side, Springfield, ups ground

After some stretching (okay, very little stretching on the parents’ part,) we grabbed a ball and warmed up.  We threw the ball around like we do here: Jane to Eliz, then Eliz flips me the ball to me (I like to pretend I’m the second baseman and I’m turning a double play,) then I “fire” it to Jane.  Jane will sometimes just give me grounders that I field (without a glove, I don’t want someone to think I can actually play and throw me the ball) and throw to her.  After about 10 minutes of that the girls took the field and the parents went to the bench.

The batting order was determined by who went over and grabbed a bat first.  I hit fourth.  We went through the order all at once.  After three outs though, if there were any runners on base, they came in and the next batter started a “new inning.”  Wasn’t too different than t-ball for Jane about eight years ago.  Two of the first three parents struck out, while the other grounded out.  I felt no pressure stepping into the batters box, since I wasn’t going to be the first one to strike out.  I so wanted to make contact.  First pitch was a ball high.  Second one was over the inside part of the plate, strike one.  Third pitch was in the exact same spot, strike two.  The fourth pitch bounced on the front of the plate, ball two.  I probably saw that one the best and had the bounce been higher, I probably could have hit it — like in mush ball.  The fifth pitch looked good, but I swung and missed, strike three.  There were at least six strikeouts on our team, including Jane’s K of Eliz.

I noticed when I was batting that I couldn’t see as well if I looked straight at the pitcher, I had to glance toward first base to see the ball better.  That concerned me, because that is what seemed to be going on over the last couple of weeks.  My central vision wasn’t good.  I went out with Eliz to stand in rightfield.  As we were talking, I told her my vision wasn’t right.  Since I started the drops, I had noticed an improvement.  I even commented to Eliz on the ride to school that I’m glad I took the eye drop just before we left home and that I was seeing pretty well as I watched the cars on the road in front of us.  How could my vision have changed so quickly?  Was it the running around while we were throwing the ball around?  Was it bright sun?  I don’t know what the answer is, but my vision seems like it has gone back to how it was before I went to Dr. Garg on Tuesday.  Once I finish with this entry, I will investigate macular edema a little further.

After two more drops today, my vision is bad.  I had trouble reading most of the graphics on TV tonight and the text on the computer is fuzzy.  Fortunately, I have an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Ayres, the surgeon and cornea specialist.  Maybe he’ll have an idea about the macular edema and the quick change in my vision.  Most likely, I’ll have to wait until I go back to Dr. Garg on 15 June.  It’s funny, I think if I had hit the ball, I don’t think I would have noticed or been bothered by the decrease in vision.  I’m already looking forward to next years game…

Couple other short items…  I spoke to Dr. Rist, my gp, today.  She was calling to give me the results from a blood test I had yesterday after my appointment with her.  They were all very good and well within the normal range.  They were dramatically better than a year ago.  My blood pressure yesterday was also pretty good, 104/68.  All in all, the 1500 calories per day has been a good thing.  I will be increasing my caloric intake to about 1700 next week, since I’m within a few pounds of my goal.  The doctor calculated my metabolism and came up with that number.  I asked the doctor if the results were back from the throat swab she had done yesterday (I’ve had a sore throat since early last week, along with chills the first day or two,) but they haven’t as of today.  She prescribed Amoxicillin yesterday since she had noticed some things in my throat.

Also, we’ve been getting more calls to our design company (Digital Graphics Design) as of late.  I had to cancel a meeting with a prospective client earlier in the week since I wasn’t feeling well.  Today we got a call from a professional looking for a small website.  I am going to attempt this one on my own.  Let’s see how that goes.  When I took the call in the morning, I was seeing okay and was confident I could do it.  Now I’m not so sure.

Play Ball! is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: ball, batters box, double play, Dr. Ayres, Dr. Garg, Dr. Rist, Eliz, Jane, jane jane, pitch, second baseman, softball game, Today, vision

Many of the companies we met with are ones that we’ve done business with in the past and have  currently on ForYourSalon.com, like Zotos, Marianna, and Satin.  For them, we just needed to order their new products and get artwork so that we can put the new stuff on the site.  Other companies we met with were those that we have some inventory, but haven’t gotten the products up on the site.  China Glaze, Fromm, and Mona Lisa Hair Accessories come to mind.  Then there are companies like Wm. Marvy Company.  We may have sold some of their items in the past, but we don’t have an inventory, but they have a product line that they will drop ship for us.  I love companies like that.  Their product line that I’m adding to ForYourSalon.com is barber poles.  It is a quality product that I don’t have to inventory.

It is nice talking business with manufacturers reps and other distributors, most of whom have been in the beauty biz for a substantial amount of time.  I always seem to learn something from these people.  Even the gung-ho, there-is-no-escaping-our-booth-without-learning-about-our-products sales peeps have tidbits of very useful information.  My favorite booth is always the Mona Lisa Clips booth.  The sales guy, who’s name I can’t recall at the moment, should be doing infomercials.  This year, he shared some ideas on selling his products and other similar products online.  He talked of calling the category Hair Management.  Hmmm, I thought.  HairManagement.com is just way too long, but HairMgmt.com isn’t.  It was a lightbulb moment.

We went back to our room and fired up a PC Margaret lent us and tried to get online.  One minute we were on, the next minute the page wouldn’t load.  We had enough time on to download FireFox, since the only web browser was the dreaded Internet Explorer 6.  It is not friendly to people like me with vision issues.  When we tried to run FireFox, we couldn’t get online at all.  After dinner, we called tech support to try and resolve our problems.  After an hour and a half, they told us there was nothing more they could do.  Turns out, it could have been the weather that night, but I’m not 100% on that.  The hotel refunded our money for the “high-speed” internet connection.  We then tried to use the complimentary computers the hotel has in the lobby.  It was like being back in the mid-80’s and on CompuServe with my 300 baud modem and my 8088 IBM-compatible computer built by Jim Conallen!  Each page load took between two and three minutes.  Eliz got as far as adding the domain to our cart and inputting the GoDaddy coupon code OYH7 to get the domain for $7.67 before the service went down.  (The next morning, I called Margaret — who stayed at our house with Meghan and our kids — and she completed the transaction.)

The only bad part about the show was my sight.  Eliz would tell me what booths we were passing and the items they had (if I didn’t know.)  She would also tell me if a person we knew was coming over to talk to us.  I can’t tell you how many times she had to tell me to shake a person’s hand because I didn’t see it extended.  That was the worst.  A close second was being in the hotel room.  Without a computer I could see (I don’t know why I just don’t say Mac) and the internet, I couldn’t research the items we saw on the show floor.  I couldn’t see what sites sold what products for what price.  It was like flying, uh, blind.  Eliz would go through the brochures and read me some of the things she felt was important.  I was so miserable, I’m surprised she didn’t throw me out of our eighth floor hotel window (with the wind that night, I would have had greater hang time than a Sean Landetta punt across the street at what was Giants Stadium.)

My sight continues to worsen.  By the end of the day, it is so bad I hate to write emails to customers for fear of embarrassing mistakes (forgive any typos here for 24 hours, please.)  I have also hesitated adding products to ForYourSalon.com.  I don’t want to sell one of those new Marvy barber poles for $4.99 instead of $499…  Surgery is only 27 days away, but I wish it was tomorrow.  I’ve always been told to be careful what you wish for, but I’ll take my chances on this one.

Trade Show Update is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: China, china glaze, com, Eliz, ForYourSalon, Giants Stadium, hotel, Jim Conallen, Mac, Margaret, Meghan, mona lisa, Mona Lisa Clips, Mona Lisa Hair, PC Margaret, product, professional beauty supplies, sales pitches, Sean Landetta, sheraton meadowlands

I had a blood test last week to test for a whole bunch of things including Lyme  disease, diabetes.  According to the less than warm and fuzzy card I received in the mail on Saturday from my doctor’s office, everything was normal.  I have to tell you that I get more personalized mail from Publishers Clearing House.  I was kind of hoping there would be something in the blood test that might give a clue to my vision.  No luck.  I will call my doctor tomorrow to see if she can elaborate further on my test.

At this point, I’m also wondering about what to do about making a living.  I would love to try to continue to build ForYourSalon.com, but that has become increasingly more difficult for me to do.  I haven’t really worked for anyone but myself and Eliz since 1985.  What could I do?  More importantly, who would hire me?  I’m interested in your opinion.  Comment here or over at Facebook (www.facebook.com/davidbenj) if you are a friend.

Small Update on My Vision is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: cornea specialist, day, glaucoma specialist, publishers clearing house, retina, retina specialist, specialist, test, vision, Xibrom

Again, I was unable to read any of it until I flipped the pinhole cover down.  Like magic, the E appeared.  I then said I know the next line is S and L, but I can’t see it.  She told me I was wrong.  What!?!  It’s not S and L.  Now I had to know.  I moved the pinholes all around until it was as clear as it was going to be for me.  I guessed O for the second letter.  Try again.  D!, I said next.  That was it.  The first letter (don’t ask me why I don’t read them in order) looked like it could be an O, G, or C.  I guessed G in hopes of it being the GD line.  No such luck.  C was my next try and that was it.  Kelly mentioned that this chart is made up mostly of similar letters that repeat often, so my usual deduction that I’ve got a one in 26 chance which increases with every letter doesn’t work.  I’m actually going to have to read them.

Once I was finished with the eye chart, Kelly took us to another waiting room, where Eliz read me the story of the Penn State mascot in a recent addition to ESPN magazine.  Before we could finish, we were called to see the doctor.  Dr. Garg asked me about my issues and mentioned that he had spoken to Dr. Pro about me.  He explained that even though my right eye doesn’t do much he still wanted to check it out.  Since my cornea is really cloudy and I have a pretty mature cataract in it, they would use an ultrasound to have a look.  He also explained a test they’d run on my left eye, to check for changes in the macular pigmentation.  Dye is injected via an IV (that’s iv, not roman numeral for 4) and pictures are taken.  After he mentioned the dye, I remembered that I had this test before.  The images are wicked.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a flash drive on me to get the images.

I went into another exam room to have the ultrasound and then back to the second waiting room to wait on the angiography.  After a 10 minute wait, Tom called me back to have the angiography.  He took a couple of images of my eye before putting the dye in.  The dye made me feel nauseous for about a minute.  Tom took more images and left to give someone an OCT scan (which took him all of five minutes — about 1000x faster than mine took on Monday.)  He then came back into the room I was in to get two more pictures.

I waited in the angiography room for a few minutes until they called me to see the doctor again.  He explained what he thought was going on.  He increased my use of one drop to three times per day and added another drop to try and get the swelling down in the retina and cornea.  He suggested that I wait on having the cataract removed until I see him again in six weeks.

After three hours, we were out of there.  We headed down City Ave to pick up Jane from school.  She called me just before the ultrasound and said she wasn’t feeling well, which I knew when she left for school.  I also knew we’d be right down the street from her and could pick her up after the appointment if she couldn’t last the day at school.

After I spent an hour, or so, at home (at which time I found out my mom had gone into the hospital — more on that below,) we headed over to Viva Salon in Springfield.  They’ve been having a problem with a hydraulic base that was still under warranty.  We swapped out the bad base for the good one that has been in our car since the move and headed to my next eye appointment.

I had scheduled this appointment with John Ruffini, another NPHS alum, to talk to him about the cataract surgery (and before I knew of any retina issues.)  He had a look at my still dilated left eye and we discussed my options and the problems that could arise from taking out the cataract.  He also thought it was best to see how the eye reacts to the increased drops and new drop.  I have put off scheduling the cataract surgery because of moving the business and the fact that it could undo the partial cornea transplant.  My left eye has endured seven operations over the years, with another one imminent.  I’m tired of going through these procedures and the recovery with mediocre success.  The risk/reward factor isn’t great, though I would do anything to preserve any sight I still have.

After leaving John Ruffini’s office, we made a delivery in Holmes and stopped by a salon in Milmont Park to look at a styling chair that needs replacing.  We returned home at about 4:00 pm and had an alarm company tech waiting to convert our system.  It took him about two hours (the whole story will have to wait for another time.)

We were finally able to head to Riddle to visit my mom.  She went to the hospital at around 8:00 am this morning because she was having shortness of breath and chest pains.  The doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation.  She seems to be okay, though uncomfortable because of the shingles.  We are hoping to pick her up and take her home tomorrow.

A Long Day is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: 1964, C.  I, cataract, chart, congenital glaucoma, cornea, Dr. Ayers, Dr. Garg, Dr. Pro, Dr. Ruffini, Eliz, espn magazine, eye, Holmes, Jane, John Ruffini, Kelly, L.  Now, Media, Milmont Park, nether providence, Penn State, penn state mascot, Providence, Queen, queen of babylon, retina, retina specialist, Riddle, room, Rose Garden, Springfield, Strath Haven, StrathHaven, swelling, Teavana, Tom, Viva Salon, Wallingford, wills eye

So the holidays are over.  We’re out of Folcroft and restocking the shelves in the new space and we’re starting to make local deliveries from the phone orders we’re taking.  Just when it looked like things were starting to settle down, a couple of new challenges have emerged.  My mother hasn’t been feeling well since her fall about three months ago.  Eliz has been taking her to various doctors over the past week, with another appointment on Monday.  One doctor thinks she may have shingles.  It has worn my dad down.  He feels helpless since he can no longer drive and his vision and memory are starting to slip.  We’ll know more on my mom on Monday.

The other challenge is me.  I’ve noticed that my vision has deteriorated over the last six months and has really started to nose dive in the past few weeks.  (I got a new HDTV for my birthday and hooked up the HDMI cable about four weeks ago and was wowed that I could notice a difference in the picture.  Watching the news tonight, I couldn’t make out many of the graphics that said where the story was taking place and the reporters/interviewee’s name.)

At Wills Eye today, my glaucoma doc, Dr. Pro, told me he didn’t think the issue was glaucoma related.  My cornea doc had previously told me that he didn’t think it was cornea related.  Dr. Pro mentioned today there were two other possibilities: the cataract or a retina problem.  He said while the cataract might be the cause of some of the issue, he said it wouldn’t lead to the significant vision loss I have sustained over the past weeks.  I couldn’t read the big E on the chart with or without the pin holes.  The E is the 20/400 at the very beginning of the eye chart.  I was able to count fingers at about three feet.  This, of course, was in my left eye, the “good” one.  As usual, I could tell when a light was off or on using my right eye, so there’s no excuse if I leave a light on in a room…

This development is troubling to me, though not unexpected.  My whole life I knew the chances were good that one day the lights would fade.  Maybe this can be reversed.  I’ll know more on Monday after I have an OCT (The technique of optical coherence tomography (OCT) produces high resolution, high speed, non-invasive, cross-sectional images of body tissue. from the University of Miami) test.  Hopefully, I’ll have some images to post and some good news to deliver.  Funny how last April and May I was trying to find a way to be able to have a catch with Jane to now just trying not to walk into things or find items on my own.

As usual, there is never a dull moment with me, especially when I do walk into something.  I end up cursing like a drunken sailor with turrets even when I don’t hurt myself.  The frustration gets hold of me for a minute or two.  Sometimes it does actually hurt…

New Challenges is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: 16th birthday, birthday, dad, Dr. Pro, Eliz, eye, Folcroft, glaucoma, hdmi cable, HDTV, holiday, holiday season, Jake, Jane, joyous season, rear ends, season, University of Miami, wills eye

We wouldn’t have been able to get everything out as quickly as we did without a ton of help from Eliz’s sister Margaret and her husband Chris, along with Frankie, Michael, and Frank.  It is hard trying to pack stuff up and move it while also trying to help customers and ship orders placed online.  It will take us another week or two to get everything out of boxes and onto shelving units.  It is kind of tough right now when get orders.  Eliz was able to find all the products for the nine orders we shipped yesterday.  We received a couple of orders late today that will be a challenge tomorrow.

It is nice working from home though.  It will be nicer once everything is setup.  I was able to hook up the credit card machine today so we could deliver a couple of phone orders to local salons.  Bring your credit cards over and I’ll show you how it works…

We went to moldy premises today to get the final few things we had there out and to let Peco in to get a final meter reading.  While there, waiting for Peco, a customer called my mobile.  She has been in many times over the past month or two and wanted to come in to buy a few things before we exited the used salon furniture business.  She was surprised that today was it for that even though we told her in the past not to wait too long and had showed her the mold and mushrooms.  The customer was there for about five minutes when the woman from Peco showed up.  The woman from Peco told me they were going to shut the power off.  Not a problem for me.  Then she killed the power.  I was in the warehouse and realized our truck was still inside.  She wasn’t happy about it, but the woman from Peco turned the power back on long enough to get the huge door opened, the truck out, and the door closed.  I thanked her and gave her three cases of Disani water that hadn’t sold.

Meanwhile, the customer continued to look at things we had for sale using a flashlight.  She ended up buy about $55 worth of stuff, most of which we were going to put in the dumpster.  It was simply incredible.  I’m sorry we didn’t have more junk there for her to buy.

The customer took so long that we were late picking up an order of perms and developer from one of our buying partners.  Being late for that pushed everything else back; orders that should have been shipped out today will go tomorrow (we received the orders today, so it isn’t that bad that they’ll take an extra day,) the local deliveries were made later than we like (though the salons were still open when we got to them between 6:30 and 7:00,) and dinner was not eaten until about 8:00, which is too late for the kids, in my opinion.  We did all this running around with our perm and developer order in the back of the car (okay, it’s an SUV — a 2010 Pilot.)  We had about 34 boxes of stuff in the car, plus a bin with the phone system in it.  Many of the developer and shampoo boxes contained gallons of product (four gallons per box.)  After dinner, I enjoyed carrying the boxes inside so they wouldn’t freeze overnight.  I figured that would burn enough calories so that I could have a small snack afterwards (I’ve been eating about 1500 calories per day since 10 December and have lost about 15 pounds.)

I’m looking forward to this new year.  We’re out of the mold and trying something different (going to customers more, instead of waiting for them to come to us.)  The beginning of the year is always hectic but fun.  Jane’s birthday is 2 Jan, Jacob’s is 7 Jan, as is my dad’s — he’ll be 92 on Thursday.  Once again, I’d like to wish all of you a happy and healthy year.

My First Post of the New Year! is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: challenge tomorrow, Chris, customer, Eliz, everything, Frank, Frankie, furniture business, Jacob, Jane, Margaret, Michael, Peco, salon furniture, step stool, Today

To prepare for our move out, we’ve been cleaning our home office.  That will become the center of our business.  Our plan is operate ForYourSalon.com and continue to serve our local customers (salons, barbershops, spas, senior care facilities, and individual stylists,) delivering their orders to them.  Delivering to our customers isn’t new, our top 10 customers never set foot into our building.  They would simply phone or fax their orders in.  Our challenge will be to convert those customers who would come into the store multiple times per week (some, multiple times per day) because we were close by.  It won’t be easy, but it is better than spending all day in that building with all the mold and mushrooms.

As were cleaning the office, we’re coming across things that we should have thrown out or recycled long ago.  Like tickets, with parking, to the 2003 NHL Eastern Conference Finals.  The Flyers were bounced in the semis by Ottawa.  I didn’t go to any of the playoffs that year, or since.  I had eye surgery in February that year and only went to one game after it as a season ticket holder (it was 1 April vs. Columbus — Jeremy Roenick bobble head night.  Eliz and I stayed until the end of the first period when it was clear I’d have a better chance at growing new hair on my bald head than I would seeing the game.)  Then there’s the Dreamweaver 2.0 guide, complete with a 3 1/2″ floppy disk!  You would have thought that I would have gotten rid of that after I purchase the Dreamweaver 3.0 Bible or the Dreamweaver MX 2004 book.  That scenario repeated over and over again with Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress, and a few other programs.  Why I still have the box and manual to the Canon A40 I purchased in 2002 is beyond me.  I guess I wanted to take advantage of the whopping two megapixels.  It is amazing what we’ve saved over the years.

I’m looking forward to turning the page to 2010; I wish you a happy and healthy year.  Of course, I’ll be back with a post in a day or two.  That will be the first time in 2010 that I’ll post to my blog…

My Last Blog Entry for 2009 is a post from: ICantCU.com | © 2009, iCantCU.com. All Rights Reserved.

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Post tags: barbershops, bobble head, building, Columbus, day, Dreamweaver, Eastern Conference, eastern conference finals, individual stylists, Jeremy Roenick, Ottawa, petri dish, salons, season ticket holder, senior care facilities, spas, time, Year