ICantCU.com

Okay, so you knew that title was coming.  The last two weeks or so have been a blur (even more so than normal for me.)  We have put in so much time packing our inventory, shelving, equipment, and everything else and moving it to our much smaller warehouse and even our house.  It hasn’t helped that Eliz has had to it without much use of her left arm (she broke it on 23 Dec when she slipped off the final step of a step stool.)  She has managed to do a great job, especially backing our truck into the loading dock.

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.

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I don’t often write about good days here, but today was one of those days that I wanted to share with the world.  It wasn’t exciting, extravagant, or exotic.  Nor were the burdens that weigh on us every day removed.  Today was a simple day spent together.  It’d be a normal day if it happened more frequently, but we’ll have to take them one day at a time.

After lunch, we went to visit my parents.  We do that every weekend and sometimes during the week if they need something.  Today we took them a couple of rye breads, a frozen dinner they asked for, a box of Tastykake cupcakes courtesy of my friend Alex, and a couple of treats.  While we’re visiting, we talk for awhile, watch TV, and help them any way we can.  Usually, the kids and Eliz hang out with my mom, while I talk with my dad.

Today was a bit different because my mom was preparing dinner when we arrived, so we all kind of hung out in the kitchen and dinning area.  When we arrived to their apartment, there was a gift on the shelf outside their door for my dad.  After we went through all the stuff we brought for them, he opened the present.  It was from a few ladies who my father taught to shoot pool.  My parents both laughed as Eliz read who the pound of fudge was from.  Between that gift, the treats we brought them, and the ice cream they have stashed in their freezer from the “cafe” down the hall, they should have enough sweets for a week or two.

After my mom had everything simmering on the stove, my parents, Eliz, and I went into the den, while the kids went into the bedroom to watch TV.  We talked about Shavu’ot, a jewish holiday that Jake has to do a presentation on at school (which neither I or my parents knew anything about,) Jake’s decision to got to Japan with the Japanese club from Westtown, some trips we took when I was a kid, and business.  We spent between and hour and a half and two hours visiting, then we headed across the street to Borders and then came home.

Since it is Hanukkah, we wanted to do one of our family traditions: make potato latkes.  (The kids are being raised without religion, though they are exposed to both jewish and catholic traditions.  If they want to pick a religion when they’re older, that’s up to them.)  The best part of latkes this year was that both kids wanted to help in the preparation.  They both peeled potatoes.  Jake then cut them up for Jane to feed into the food processor for shredding.  Eliz then grated the onion in the food processor.  I added the other ingredients and cooked them.  Jane later said she wanted to form some and cook them, so my cooking duties were over for the day.  Don’t tell her, but she is better at cooking them than me…  We then enjoyed them together, along with roasted turkey breast, at the dinner table.

Simply eating together at the dinner table is good.  We don’t get to do it as often as we should.  We all had a hand in making the latkes and spent real quality time with one another.  Eliz and I both really enjoyed it.

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Today was primary day in Pennsylvania (uh, yeah, the polls have closed already… You missed it.) Eliz and I went to vote this morning on our way to work at our business, Salon Supplies + Interiors. We pulled into the parking lot at the municipal building and laughed when we noticed that we were the only car in the lot. This is, of course, a far cry from last November. When we walked in, we were told we were numbers nine and ten. I was a bit shocked. The polls had been open for an hour and fifteen minutes. They then confirmed our party affiliation; both of us are Republicans. Here’s where I get uneasy. Since I can’t see the names on the machine, someone, usually Eliz, has to go in with me. I always get a little angry as this is yet one more thing I can’t do on my own.

I have been told that these new machines have an audio device so that the visually impaired can vote on their own. I have also been told by a poll worker where I vote and another polling official from another county that it takes quite awhile to vote using the devise. If I used that device today, it would have been an inconvenience to me. Last November, I’m not sure I would have made it home alive as the queue was 15 to 20 minutes long without anyone using the audio device. I am not a fan of these fairly new (five or six years) machines.

Tonight, I had an Advisory Board meeting at Anthem Institute (the school formerly known as Chubb Institute.) Chris Stahley asked me to join after I completed the Graphic Design & Multimedia program there in 2004. Chris left Chubb a few years ago, but I still get invited back… I enjoy going and seeing the new things that are being considered for the program. For example, we didn’t get any video production, but as part of the board’s input back in 2005, it was added. I’d love to have done some video work…

As I was sitting there listening to Ken Rementer go over the current curriculum and textbooks, I realized that I will never be able to learn more than the programs I already know. And, as each new version of the programs that I know is released, the more difficult it will be to work with them. I don’t know why that just sunk in tonight. I’ve had great difficulty using Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, et al. for well over a year. I really miss creating logos, doing web design, and making flash movies. Very frustrating indeed. I’ve got to find a hobby that doesn’t require seeing…

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