Quick Update

I would love to summarize 2008 and set some goals, hopes, and desires for 2009, but I don't have enough time right now to do it well, so I am going to hold off...

Quick rundown for us, though:

1 - We continue to operate right around the break even thresh hold, but without paying ourselves. We'd love to put some money in Tracy's pocket this year...
2 - January is typically a slow month for retail, and especially for discretional food/beverage spending. People are typically tight on money after the Christmas season, and people start their healthy, lose-weight resolutions in January. They usually fall off the wagon by sometime in February. We are seeing sales growth in Jan09 of about 15% compared to Jan08. That is good...
3 - I went to the orthopedic surgeon today for follow up x-rays on my clavicle break. The good news is that my injury has improved enough that he did not schedule me for surgery. The bad news is it has not healed as it should, and he is giving me four more weeks before he makes a decision. If the bone density is not good by then, it is surgery to re-break the bone and install a metal plate to hold it together. Then I get to start this miserable process all over again. However, my arm has been in a sling for 2 1/2 months. He does not want my shoulder to remain immobilized, so the sling is gone! I have to start physical therapy next week to regain range of motion in my shoulder, but no strength conditioning, as my clavicle will break with very little stress due to the lack of bone density at the break location. He figures that if it is out of the sling and breaks again, then he can go in and fix it. If it doesn't break and continues to heal, then so be it. I'm just hoping that if I do have surgery, I can get one of those red Terminator eyes to go with the new bionic shoulder... Maybe he can fix some of my personality defects while he's at it!
4 - The kids are all doing well, as is Tracy.
5 - Work is miserable, due to the extremely heavy workload right now. I'm looking forward to six weeks from now when I'm past this difficult and stressful time.
6 - Oh yeah... I also want to mention that Tracy and I are incredibly happy with our staff at Nemo's right now. It has taken a year and a half for us to make mistakes, learn from them, and finally dial our staff in the way we want it to be. Everyone we have right now is absolutely wonderful. Great people... Stop in and say hello to whoever is working. We are sure you will like them all.

Gotta run...
Hope everyone is well.
JD