My Very Own Spaceship

After taking care of random odds and ends - such as setting up my Verizon online account and FINALLY buying an HDTV to hover above the dining room - I had the chance to sit down with Mr. Yellow Pages and find out what they have to offer. I'll say this: the phone book has come a long way in the last few years.

I'll probably end up signing up to be part of a direct mailer that will go out quarterly to 30,000 households and apartments with heads that are between the ages of 20 and 55. The ads are in the form of attractive glossy postcards - a far cry from the ValuPak envelopes with which I am most familiar - and will be dedicated exclusively to restaurants and entertainment venues. If I do it for $2400 for the year, I'll also get 1/8 page ad in under the "pizza" category in the phone book, as well as two coupons in that section of the book.

After the Yellow Pages info meeting, I headed over to the store to check on the progress. What I found was nothing short of astounding. I must admit I had totally underestimated the size of my exhaust hood - it's a flying saucer (albeit decidedly rectangular in shape - see below) hovering ominously low over my kitchen. I called Superintendent Mark to find out more about this ninth wonder of the world, and found out that code dictates that the clearance for an exhaust hood be set no higher than 6' 6". If I can jump and bang my head on the edge of the hood, I truly fear for the wellbeing of those taller than me. On the plus side, this monstrosity should suck out every last wisp of hot air emanating from the oven.

My very own spaceship hovering in its bay.

Later on in the day I heard back from my first employee - my youngest brother's friend David Kim. I've been keeping him in the loop since October, and he finally got me an application to set his availability and find out all the latest. He's also probing his friends to see if they might be interested in applying. In any event, I got a few more applications in from students I met at the job fair. If I can just clear one or two more hurdles, I should finally be able to begin setting up interviews with them.

I knew I was riding too high, and would likely be brought down by something shortly. Sure enough, that something came in the form of a call back from Todd (landlord), telling me that he wants serial numbers for all of the equipment that is to be left behind in the event of a default. Considering that the walk-in unit won't arrive for another four weeks, this is quite the tall task. I've dealt with the difficult before to get to this point, however, so my emails have gone out of all the people who can get me the info I need and hopefully I'll have something for Todd to sign no later than Monday. Admittedly, though, I'm stressing this, because my bank accounts are getting tapped fast after I had to plunk down the deposit for the walk-in out of my own pocket the other day.

In a separate interesting development, I have been asked to speak in front of Dr. Hosack's Business 100 class on Wednesday, January 30. I asked her if she was sure the kids could handle the harsh realities of getting a business off the ground, and she assured that they would be better off for hearing it; she thinks that certain topics I cover might provide a springboard for future class discussions throughout the semester. I have to admit, I think it'll be fun.

Anyways, nothing relieves stress like rest, so I'll report back soon hopefully with some positive developments that leave me closer to being able to touch my money. More soon...