I'm Very Tired...

Well, I made it through last night OK. Michelle went home sick right after she got here. Tracy came in from 6:30pm until a little after 7:00pm just to help me with the massive photographer hoard scheduled to meet at 7:00. As it turns out, the severe thunderstorms kept some people at home and we had about 14 people show up for the photo session. I then ran the shop by myself and ducked into the meeting from time to time until about 9:30pm. Once everyone left after 10:00pm I was able to make burritos and finish the closing duties. I got everything wrapped up at about Midnight, but then I remembered that I was supposed to send our menu flier by email to a contact at the Pikes Peak Work Force Center (adjacent to us). I spent a few minutes updating that and sent it to Mike, then got out of here at 12:30.

I got to bed at 1:00am, and back up again at 5:30. I got the boys ready for school (make them breakfast, make their lunches, verify backpacks are all set, check their uniforms-shoes-belt, brush teeth, and most important of all, fix their bedhead!. We then picked up Sarah and Anthony (neighbor kids) and I took them all, along with Machi our Jack Russell Terrier, hiking in Palmer Park. We have had serious thunderstorms for about 5 days in a row, so the trails were a little muddy. I had five kids from Kindergarten to fifth grade hiking on muddy trails in school uniforms. I got them all to school mostly clean, but there were a few issues... I'll have to check their folders and see if they got any notes from their teachers!

I then came to the shop and worked for a little while, then went to Hobby Lobby to get matt board. I have to matt a 16x20" print for a client wedding by tomorrow. I also ran to Sam's Club to get more croissants for our sandwiches. Tracy had a group of 20 show up and order a bunch of sandwiches!

Now it is 6:25pm, Michelle is still sick, so I am working the shop alone again tonight. I have a group meeting in the studio from 7:00pm to 9:00pm tonight. Luckily, it is only abut 10-12 people. I can handle a small rush like that by myself without any real delays for the customers.

I should get out of here by 10:00 tonight, which means I can get 7 hours of sleep!! Woo Hoo!

Our laptop in the office is getting a little bit glitchy. It is our server for the financial software and for the Point of Sale system out at the bar. I have been wanting to build a new computer for the back room server for awhile now. Dell was having a deal (I found it at www.slickdeals.net) for a dual core Windows XP machine with a 20" widescreen Samsung LCD monitor for $489 and free shipping!! If you subtract the retail cost of the monitor, that means I got a dual core XP computer for about $240. I couldn't even buy the components to build it for that much, let alone get a copy of Windows for it. It will be here in about a week or so... Then I will have to move the required applications to the new desktop, set up the network, get Quick Books Pro and QB Point of Sale to communicate, set up the DSL modem again, etc, etc, etc...

Oh yeah, we are on pace to set a new record this week both for total weekly sales and for most customers in a week!! Here are a few sales numbers for August so far (quantities sold):

Espresso Drinks - 867
Bottled Drinks - 462
Lunches - 544
Fruit Smoothies - 420
Pastries - 425

In all, we have sold 3142 items from August 1 to August 16!

Take care and God Bless!
JD