Kids! What’s the Matter With Kids Today? Nothing.
You can always tell when markers are scented (you don’t get the full effect unless you shove them up your nose). Berry blue, green apple, black licorice, cotton candy pink- truly irresistible! I’ve got many a happy memory involving scented markers. I’m not sure what brand we had when I was in grade school, but I’ve idealized them in my mind as the pinnacle of perfumed pen perfection. I think I may have licked a few.
When I was little my Mom and Dad used to tell me bedtime stories. Dad’s adventures usually involved Chip & Dale, “boom juice” and trips to outer space in a tree rocket. Mom’s stories were about Shiny, a little robot who lived in our house. Since he’s fascinated by robots, I’ve been telling Mike stories about Shiny. I also mentioned once that Shiny’s had a brother - Rusty - who did mining work on the moon. Mike has become obsessed with these two robots. We’ve talked endlessly about them, drawn them, and now, more recently, made them out of Legos.
Obviously I’m thrilled that Mike likes Legos. He’s made a bunch of cool things that I wish I’d taken pictures of, so this time I seized the opportunity. I had told Mike that Shiny was painted green and so he collected a bunch of little green Lego parts and whipped up the robot above. The piece next to Shiny’s head is his ”treasure shelf.” Mike told me to make Rusty and I obliged. Claire helped us build a fortress for the robots and Gabe threw up on it.
Speaking of Claire and Gabe. Fran got Claire a tea set and we’ve had several tea parties together. She’s quite the little hostess. And Gabe finally stared walking! Who would have thought that these little people could bring me so much joy?
Almost Done with the Freaking Store!
After four months of steady work we’ve got the shelves, counters, lightning and tweaking done for most of the store. It’s quite an upgrade from our first storefront (you can a more detailed version of our remodeling progression and new storefront over on BladeHQ). There’s plenty of room for customers now and with the counters lining the store our inventory doesn’t get ransacked.
Speaking of counters- I know it may be hard to tell from the pictures, but our counter fronts and tops are glass to glass. This is a big deal for us, actually. When we went looking for displays one thing we noticed was that there was always a bar of some kind on the front blocking the view. With glass on glass the customer has complete visibility (these cabinets were custom made). We also lit the cabinets from the side so the view would not be blocked. The lightning was a big project, but Ikea came through for us).
We still need to get the watch section of the store finished up (I mean real watches- check out our new online watch store), hang up our signs, LCD TVs, and get the entrance area polished a bit. We’re pretty excited about everything. Let the customers come!
Powerlime… so close you can almost taste it!
You’ve waited, you’ve worried and wondered. What could it be? We’re getting close. Is that a faint hint of lime in the air?
Cam on Commerce
Most of you are probably familiar with Joel on Software. The guy is a blogging champ and often comes up with some great ideas and philosophies I’ve applied to my own business. Yeah, he writes about software and his software company so not everything he says applies to what I’d doing. And then I got to thinking, “I wish someone would do a blog specifically geared toward commerce.” And then I thought, “I could do that. Cam…. Cam on commerce.” So there you have it- the origin story.
Maybe I’m not the best guy to do it. Maybe I can’t write with the wit, clarity and stunning charisma of people like Joel. Maybe, maybe, maybe- but the domain is registered and I’ve set up the blog and I’m on my way! Maybe one day someone will read the other blog and find something useful. That would be really cool. One in awhile I may say something helpful. Plus it’s a nifty was to organize my thoughts on business. Go there now!
Business, As Usual
For anyone wondering exactly what Tasers are, you can check out their website HERE. Personally, I think they represent an excellent means of non-lethal self defense and I’m excited to be able to carry them in our store.
Speaking of stores- we’re actually launching two new websites. There’s SelfDefenseHQ (which I just mentioned) and also SwordHQ which we’re hoping to get up in the next month. There’s still some design tweaking to do, but we’re getting close. I’m always floored by how much stuff there is to sell! Self defense items, emergency preparedness products, kitchen knives, multi tools, flashlights, custom knives, imports, fantasy stuff. We’ve barley scratched the surface. If only there was more time…