It was like I got off the plane on Tuesday and stepped right into a storm of craptacular crappularity. Texas was so awesome this time around. When I got back, it was crisis after crisis for the next few days.
We got a few checks in, so we can breathe for a week or so. We'll repeat the entire process in a couple of weeks when the next payroll is due. Such are the joys of small business ownership in the great recession.
The weather is getting cold. It was in the 40s this morning when I woke up. In a way, that's a good sign. We need the bad weather to get us jump-started. In this business, our busy-season starts pretty much with the first hard freeze in December or January and ends whenever the thunderstorms end in the Summer.
Last year, we never had a hard freeze or big thunderstorms. Hence, we had a crappy year. I should be happy to see the seasons change and with it, perhaps, my fortunes.
I'm always sad to see the bad weather come, though. It's depressing here in the Winter. It's dark, cold, nothing much good is going on. Of course, ski season starts. I will be taking Logan to the slopes with his brand-new skis (a very late birthday present.) The ski shop still hasn't gotten them in, but they assure me that in late October, they should arrive. We'll probably get out on the slopes a half dozen times. So, that's nice.
As athletic and active as Logan is, it's good to get him one more sport he can do.
We have the pitching machine in the basement so we can work on his swing to get ready for baseball. I'll also be taking some stuff to the warehouse so I can work on pitching with him.
Next week, I think he's got tryouts for a somewhat competitive basketball team. We haven't worked on basketball at all. If he doesn't make it, we'll sign him up for rec. Tonight, I went in the back yard to watch him shoot some hoops and he did great. Couldn't say whether or not he'll make the team, but he seems pretty good to me.
Pretty soon, I'll start moving sports gear to the warehouse so Logan can work on pitching and shooting hoops indoors when the weather turns bad.
In a way, I guess I'm looking forward to the travel baseball season kicking off again. At that point, the weather will be starting to turn warm again. After next month, I'll have my June and July drills taken care of. So, I'll have those months off from the Navy. As long as I can get May off with my December drill, that pretty much takes care of the travel season.
My bud, Patrick, showed me a Tabata interval timer application for the droid. So, I tried my first tabata workouts. Did push-ups, sit-ups and knee bends. I also did some negatives on the chin-up bar. I need to do that routine once every 3 or 4 days, I think. It's a great way to stay in shape and it doesn't take much time. Of all things, the place where I feel it most are in my legs.
Last fitness test, my push-ups were not very good. Sit-ups (curl-ups for the Navy), were better than expected. The run was about what I would have figured. I also have a mountain of laundry at the house, so I think a rowing machine workout is in order.
My last Melancon guitar got a qualifying bid on e-bay. So, it will sell. They sold for more than I thought they would. My Gibson SG sold for less, really. All in all, I did okay selling off the 4 guitars. Things are going to be tight, financially, at least until January, I think.
I put up one of my guns for sale, and that's what's going, next. Seems like the market for guns is a little soft at the moment. I'll know more after the auction is complete.
Traded some more e-mails with the berthing coordinator and it appears that they will be able to give me a private room with shared bath because I'm flex-drilling. (That means I'm there for more than just the 2 days of a normal drill weekend.) So, that's nice. It's bad enough that I'm paying for airfare and car rental out of pocket. I don't need to be forking out for hotels, too.
Obviously, money wasn't and isn't my motivator when it comes to doing the Navy thing, but I do get about $400 after-tax for a weekend. When I double-up, I get $800 for 4 days work. Not a king's ransom, but nothing to ignore. Even with $300 in airfare and $12 in car rental, I still come out ahead.
I put an ad in the paper for a marketing person. I'm not paying much on this. I prefer to bring people in at a low wage and have them prove themselves to me. I considered doing this job myself, but it's something that really is best handled by an employee who can focus on it.
Football is tomorrow morning. Logan has just 2 games left, this week and next. After that, I will move the basketball hoop to the warehouse, so he can practice indoors in the Winter.
For some reason, I'm really feeling anxiety these days. We've had way too many close calls on payroll lately. Business will probably stay flat at least until mid-December. This has just been the year from hell.
It's hard not to get discouraged. I have no idea how I survived this long, and have no idea how I'll survive much longer if business doesn't pick up.
I really have no choice at this point but to hang on and hope that 2011 has normal weather patterns for a change.
This downturn came at such a bad time. I had started to establish savings and really had a sizeable rainy day fund. Thing is, things just never got better and after a year of this, I feel almost like I did during my first year. I have to re-build this business almost from scratch. Not totally, though. The employees I have left are awesome.
Let's hope we have awesome business in 2011. I've already written off 2010.
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