A lot has happened since the last post. Stained the floor. Majority of fixtures/furniture have been purchased and assembled. Some of the yarn has been transferred to the store. Here are a bunch of pictures from recent events.
Here is the stained concrete floor. The color is called 'Terra Cotta'. Did it myself - two coats. Not bad, eh? Here's another shot:
Here's a really cool shot of all the yarn (um, about 800 pounds by now) in my living room. Well, it won't be there for much longer!
Here's a moody shot of Angela, one of my faithful customers/Knit Night attendees. Been with me since the very beginning. Doesn't she look Angelic with that light shining behind her? Get it - Angela is Angelic? Cough.
Finally, here's a badly lit shot of the gang at the very last Knight Night in my Living Room (last Thursday). That's Angela and Sue with me in between. Sue has the honor of being 1) My first customer 2) my first repeat customer and 3) my first customer paying with plastic.
Barbara (my new employee) and I were busy all last week assembling IKEA furniture after I hired a guy off of craigslist.org to deliver the many shelves and tables from the IKEA store in Emeryville to the space in San Rafael. My good friend Gail helped out one day last week by donating the services of her SUV to get additional stuff from IKEA and by assembling furniture. The furniture assembly continued today.
I've known all along that I would have to pay to get the phone line(s) installed in the space... phone is always the tenant's responsibility (as opposed to electricity). The phone guy (from SBC) came on Friday to install the phone line. After some discussion with the property manager, he left without doing much of anything. Turns out that I have to hire someone (and foot the bill) to install conduit for the phone wiring that goes from the junction box to my space. SBC does not install conduit. Um, why didn't someone tell me this WEEKS ago?! Why tell me on the day the phone guy comes out? I've discussed the phone situation with the property manager many times and NEVER did she mention anything about conduit. ARGH!
Today I called an electrician who had availability this afternoon. He came out about an hour after I first called and quoted me for the job. I'm soooo naive, still. I'm secretly hoping it's under $500. It's just some stupid pipe that has to be screwed to the wall, right? No. It's a 4-6 hour job. $1464. Ouchhhhhhh. Sigh sigh sigh. But he can do it right away. Ok. Let's do it and get it done. I can't let this hinder my opening. So now it's done.
Only one thing, though. The phone guy from SBC said that he tagged the lines at the box so that the electrician could connect the wires, install the jack, and I'd be ready to go. No additional visit from SBC needed. The electrician, however, could not figure out which wires were mine. No tags to be found. Doh! Why am I surrounded by lameness?!? So tomorrow I have to call the phone guy to come back and do what he said he'd do last week. Yes, I'm sure there will be another bill to pay.
I sure hope I sell some yarn after I open. I sure am spending a lot of money right now.
6 comments:
Warren, it's the way of the world. Just keep plugging away and soon you'll see, it'll all come together and it will be a success. Best of luck!
Warren: I represent these remarks! I was able to get my phone, etc installed before my walls went up - 3 visits from SBC before they got it right. I keep telling myself that a year from now all this won't matter. But it sure is a pain in the checkbook...Amazing how the incompetence is the same everywhere. Oh, and the floor looks great!!!
Just remember, as Frederick Nietzsche said, "Those things that do not kill us make us stronger." It will all get done and hopefully you'll still have an ounce of energy to run your store. It's looking great and I can't wait to see the store open.
Looks WONDERFUL!!! I'm soooo proud of you!!! Keep it up!!! Your dream is close to becoming true...don't let the little things get to you...and remember the phone while agervating is just a little thing. You will get it resolved quickly.
Hey! Just think you could be back here in Michigan with it starting to get 32 degrees and looking forward to snow :-)
I'll buy some yarn ;) The floor looks Faaaaabulous. Can't wait to see it all in person tomorrow!
I hope you are well!
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