BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

28Feb/120

A beer and a story

So I think I'm going to just keep going out for a beer after work most nights.  It's definitely miss on finding anyone to connect with my age.  I'm not sure where all the 29 year olds are but they aren't out at bars... ha oh well.

But usually there's interesting or funny things that happen.  Tonight I decided to go down the street from work to an irish pub.

I was kinda sitting there reading a bit and listening to the person next to be talk about how she was there one night with her boyfriend and some lady came in in her PJ's because she lived down the street and didn't feel like putting on actual clothing to come to the bar.

As she's telling that story the guy 2 seats down gets up to go to the bathroom and he says to the lady next to him... "can you watch my stuff?"

The bar tender says... you shouldn't be asking that lady to watch your stuff!  She's married... you should ask her to watch your beer... everyone starts laughing.... I and the guy didn't get the joke.  But EVERYONE else did.

So then he looks at me like what?  And I'm like I don't know?

Then the bar tender explains the joke.

He was like... you asked a married lady to watch your stuff!  The bar tender was saying... "stuff" as in... watch him walk to the bathroom and stare at his butt instead of watch his drink.

To me it wasn't very funny and to the guy it wasn't very funny... but everyone was just laughing their butts off.

When he came back from the bathroom he was just like "is it just me or was that joke not all that funny?"  I was like... I'm with you dude.  I don't get it.

then we both started laughing and everyone was looking at us like whats so funny.

All in all it was a fun time.  Personally I thought the story about the lady that came to the bar in her PJ's was way better than the watch my butt (aka stuff) joke.

I think a nice beer after work is the perfect way to unwind and each little hour that it takes to sip on a 2 or 3 dollar beer is always filled with interesting snippets of conversation.

My google searching tonight turned up 5 dollar flights of beer or wine with complimentry flatbread at the Paramour (I think a flight of beer is like a sampler... and I LOVE samplers).  So tomorrow night I'll be going down the street to check that out!  I hope I don't have to get all dressed up fancy... haha that place looks SUPER fancy pantcy!

I like the mix of going to one bar that's all down home peeps one night and then going to a big wig bar the next.  Thursday I'm going to check out D and B in plymouth meeting i think... or maybe do that friday.  I'm not sure yet.

It's fun researching specials and going to a new bar each night!  And there are a lot of them too!  So it looks like I should be able to always have a new and interesting place to head to after work to keep things interesting.  I've given up on meeting anyone my age... I think they all must live on mars or something. haha... oh well.  This is fun too.  So I'll keep doing my after work bar hopping every night after work.

I also think I want to start doing Karaoke again and I want to check out quizzo!

Well I don't know if I'm going to blog about it after every outing... unless there's something super interesting to blog about.  But if something funny happens I'll post it here.

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28Feb/120

Gypsy Saloon

Tonight after work I went to this little neat fun bar called "Gypsy Saloon".  It 's in West Conshohocken.  Or West Conshy as the locals call it.

I kinda loved it.  A lot.  I was going there to hopefully just maybe chat with people and make new friends or whatever.  Gotta mix things up in life to keep it interesting!  I guess all this just coming straight home thing right after work finally got a little dull.

The good news is I came in under budget last month by a little bit.  Basically on budget with a little savings to spare.  SO I figure a couple nights out a week to have a 2 or 3 dollar beer will be ok for my pocket book and not strain it too much.  I'll see how my next months budget goes.  If I go over then I will cut out the drinks and just come straight home again.  But according to my calculations I should be cool to have a drink after work 1 or 2 nights a week just to relax and unwind.  Maybe like 1 night during the week and then 1 night on a the weekend.  Although I might do 2 nights during the week and then not go out much on the weekend because weekends out tend to be super craziness and I'm not all about that.  I like things pretty low key and chill and such.

Well anywho the bar is located here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=gypsy+saloon&hl=en&ll=40.069665,-75.312545&spn=0.010969,0.018346&client=safari&fb=1&gl=us&hq=gypsy+saloon&hnear=0x89c69534f7ba4eaf:0x8480c93c04e95c7c,Radnor+Township,+PA&cid=0,0,17313391944348509463&sqi=2&t=h&z=16

And here's the website:

http://www.gypsysaloon.com/

 

The area is nice and small town ish.  I feel like parking in front of the building and driving up that i'm almost in an old mining town.  There's actually some serious hills around that little area.  It's almost NOT philly at all.

Well so I drove up and got a little parking spot right in front.  Walking into the place really does look like an old time saloon!  The outside is pretty neat looking.  And then once you are inside it's like you are inside a gypsy house or something of that sort.  The mood lighting is very... mood esk.  haha... I just love it.  It's a super inviting atmosphere.  It's almost like a local down home bar but with a upscale sprinkle to it.  I feel like it's a place that I can just go to have a nice unwinding drink after work and not have to worry about things getting too ruckus.

The music was kept at a low volume and they played cool indie musics and other things you'd hear on the radio.   As well they had out free munchy chex mix snacks bowls that they refilled often so I kept munching away at that since I went right after work and didn't have any dinner yet.

The beer was cheap... Well... I mean not astronomically cheap... 2 dollar miller light, and 3 dollar yuengling.. it's pretty standard.  Then the crafts were 5 bucks.  I just had a yuengling.

When I arrived it was pretty empty... but after a little while a few people sat down on either side.

I caught little bits and pieces of random conversation every time I took a small break from reading...

One side was a group of 3 college or post college looking age kids.  They chatted about their jobs in the city and how it was one of those days where they needed to have that second margarita.

The two guys to the other side were middle aged friends.  I guess the one dude was recently divorced and he was talking about how he got the whole doing laundry part down since the wife moved out but he has 4 or 5 piles of laundry around the house because he doesn't understand the folding or putting away part.  Then he talked about how he was taking his kids to disney world and his ex wife was mad at him for doing that but he said his kids now come first in his life and so he said if she wants to be mad she can be mad...

those were the only snippets of convo I got in between my breaks from my book.  I was just kind of mostly not paying attention and just sipping my beer and munching on the chex mix and reading.

Then I came home and made some frozen pizza since I'd been craving that... and worked away on some things.  I took a break to ride my hampsterwheel/stationary bike.... and then went back to more stuffs.

And here we are.  I'm about to get to sleep.  It was fun going to relax with a beer after work.  I'm going to keep google mapping and see what else is around.  I definitely want places that are like this place.  I'm a fan of the cozy saloon/pub/tavern feel and not the mega super crazy rowdy sports bar.  Definitely going to steer away from any bar that has a steer you can ride.  I've actually only been to one bar that had a ride the mechanical bull in it.  It was crazy.  Just crazy!  I didn't ride.  But some people I know did.

I think instead of trying to find new friends and things I'm just going to go for the atmosphere and bring my nook and enjoy the beer and enjoy the change of pace to my day to break up things and refresh me.

If there are people to chat with great!  If not... that's also cool too!  And I can always build stories in my mind around the little random snippets of conversation I hear from people chattering away.  I definitely think the Gypsy Saloon is going to be a place I go to maybe once a week or once every other week just to hang out and enjoy.

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25Feb/120

My thoughts on dating websites

So I get asked the same question alllll the time when I start a conversation with a girl on a dating website.

"what are you looking for on here?"

That question makes no sense to me.  Because to me there is ONLY one thing to look for!  The following:

 

1. We start talking... if the talking goes well with messaging back and forth...

2. We start texting... or IMing... or phone chatting conversing over the phone...  If that goes well...

3. We meet for coffee or beer... and then we do a little chatting in person over coffee or a beer and we joke we laugh... etc. (or we just sit there awkwardly and hope that it's over soon)

4. IF the coffee or beer awkwardness goes well... then we meet again... maybe for dinner... maybe a movie.... whatever.

5. If we meet several times and it seems like it's going ok and we maybe start going over to each others places and we start making dinner together or just watching movies...

6. THEN we say ok... let's be all officially official on facebook.  AFTER we change our status on facebook and we are officially in a relationship and all... and we delete our profiles from the dating site....

7.  We go on regular fun date nights... we buy each other little fun "I thought of you just now" gifts... and we text each other and email each other cute fun things and we always make excuses to make each other laugh... and we just are all about each other... AND....

We start doing it.  A lot.  All the time.  As much as we possibly can.  And we learn new and super whoa ways to do it... and we read books on new super whoa ways to do it.  Lots and lots of doing it.

8.  After a while we start to get serious.  Then maybe after a year of gifts and funs and cuteness... and lots and LOTS of doing it like whoa.  We start talking about moving in together.

9.  After maybe 2 or 3 years... we rent together.  We get a place together and we live together for a year or 2.

10. I PROPOSE!  And then we set a date.  And then we try to think of a place to get married and  a cool way to spend our honey and moon and a super ccool fun different way to dance down the aisle to some fun pop song... or choreograph the wedding party... etc.

11. We buy a casa of our own.

12. We continue the doing it thing so much that at some-point.... we replicate little babes of our own.

13. this continues on and on and on  and on forever... well not the babes part... but the doing it and being in love and living together and raising the babes that we mades part.

That's my answer.  Because to me... that's the ONLY reason why I'm on a dating website.  WHY else would someone be on a dating site?!?!

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23Feb/120

I need to get better at getting to bed earlier

I always stay up WAAAAAAY too late.  Most of the time it's because I've got a billion and one things on my mind.  Tonight it's because I napped earlier because I was so soo sooo super tired after work.

I really want to try and get to sleep a little earlier.  But yea I'm usually thinking about lots of things or trying to figure out and plan stuff or trying to make a to-do list with a LOT of stuff on it.

I read somewhere one time that it's actually better to set an alarm clock to go to bed than it is to set an alarm clock to wake up. I don't remember what that was in or where it was I read that.  But it's an interesting idea.  I think I might have to give that a try some time.  I don't know about anyone else but I always think... ok I'll just take a few more minutes to do this or that.  And then before I know it... it's WAAY past my bed time.

Recently I had a random chat with a friend of mine from college.  It was fun to talk about random things and people and all that stuff.  It's funny because college is supposed to be the time when you stay up till all hours of the night... and I mean I did stay up pretty late now and again in college... but most nights I actually went to sleep pretty early.  I was always SUPER tired because I had some brilliant idea to swim a mile or 60 some laps 3 nights a week for like a whole 2 years of college.  It was kinda crazy.  But yea that used to just zonk me out REALLY early.

Now I just sip some chamomile tea.  Hmmm yea I guess that I just have lots on my mind and then I keep thinking about stuff and worry about things and that sorta keeps my mind going so I can't fall asleep.

But I know that I shouldn't worry too much.  Just let things happen how they are day by day and just kinda see what comes.

My biggest issue that I want to be more productive with creative and music and video things.  But by the time I get home at the end of the day... I'm all like zoned out and so I can't really seem to get much done.  I stay up trying to do more things but my brain just gets all fuzzy and since I get less sleep I'm just not very productive.

Hopefully tomorrow night I'll get to sleep maybe a little early and then I can sleep in saturday and then hopefully saturday I can be more productive on the creative side of things.

I just feel like there's always so many other things to be done that I have so little time for creative stuff!  I wish I could post something new every week here like songs, or pictures, or videos, or video blogs, or comedy things.  Hopefully if I can get the income happening from this then I can eventually make enough money to live off and then I can devote TONS of time to just doing creative things!   But for now... it's day job and then a little bit of creative productivity in the evening and then eventually just falling asleep.

I have a hunch though that maybe if I just go to sleep earlier.  I can be more productive in the short time after work.  Maybe try to not think too much about other things in life and just focus on being super productive right after work and then just getting to bed earlier!

I think I might have to test that theory out and see how it works.  I'll set a bed time alarm clock... no matter what... when that alarm goes off... I go to sleep.  Or at least lay in my bed and count sheep?

 

Even if they are zebra and giraffe looking sheeps.  Or... as I'll call them... Shebras and Gireeps.

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21Feb/120

My Next Car (at least in theory, or rather on my wish list) and other updates

Sometimes I think it would be cool to buy a new car.  But then I think well the car I have right now works just fine and dandy.  Soooooo not right now.  But if I were to buy a new car from all the researching I've done I'd probably buy this car...

 

Honda Insight in black.  It's the most affordable of the hybrids.  I've always dreamed of owning a hybrid, but they are just sooooo pricey compared to the cost of gas!  So I've never been able to convince myself that owning a regular gas car that is just super economical isn't the way to go.  I also think the E85 cars are a good idea.  They are starting to add more E85 fueling stations.  There are a few in the philadelphia area.

I'm a fan of eco friendly alternative fuel cars.  If I had a house of my own I probably would buy the Chevy volt and plug that in and charge it in the garage.

I think my ultimate dream is to own a little cottage that's tucked away on a little wooded street and have a little plug in electric hybrid vehical.  I'd like to purchase all my electricity from wind or some form of renewable energy.  I'm all about that stuffs.  Right now I buy wind power and everything in my apartment is electric.  It's about 15 percent more than regular electric.  But after almost a year of living here I have figured out the best way to manage my heat and AC and electric devices to keep the bills down.

Actually I've got some pretty good news... I came in under budget for this last month just as I had planned!  I'm super happy about that.  I want to keep trying to save lots of money and keep my budget.  Maybe I can eventually afford a nifty neat Honda Insight!  Then I'd save even more money on gas.

That's my thought tonight.  I was just thinking that after picking my mom up from the hospital... I should definitely have a good solid reliable car that can get super awesome great fuel economy and holds lots of stuffs and goes far!  So then I can continue to be someone that people can really rely on and I can provide and help and always be able to do things to help friends and family.

My car now is pretty good with all that... So for now i'm ok and able to get places no problem.  But I think when I do eventually jump to my next vehicle I'll want something like that car.  Something that's not too pricey but good to help give rides to people and pick up things and go around town and get me reliably around so that I can be someone that people can really depend on to be there no matter what.

Plus it's kinda futuristically looking and computery looking so it kinda fits me.  I'd definitely get one in black though.  I think it's totally sleek and suave looking in black.

Anywho so yea all is now stable and well in my world and with my mom and family and such.  So that's something I'm thankful for tonight.  My mom is home and she's on some antibiotics to finish fighting the infection she had.  A little infection to most people is a pretty big deal to her.  So hopefully no more health scares for a long while.

Hmmm... tomorrow night I play my song at the tribute.  I'm pretty nervous!  But i've practiced and I've got my guitar all packed up and ready to go.  One of my coworkers will be running the sound.  I've played several times with him doing sound.  So we know how to make things work well and sound good.  I like that.  I think if I ever got super monumentally famous and did world tours... I'd have to ask him to be my sound dude.  Anywho so there's my random blog for the evening.  If I ever do purchase a new hybrid super cool/hot excellent car... I'll be sure to post about it!

Oh... also I got a little bit of a chance to mess with the cables I purchased to hook things up.  It works!  Soo I hooked my camera up to my TV and I can sit in front of the TV and then point the camera at a little setup I made where I can make little backgrounds and then move my construction paper dudes around  in front of that.  The cables were ordered from this site called monoprice.com.  It's awesome.  They have lots of cables and adapters and all kinds of things for SOOOOOOOO cheap!  It's basically all the same things you can buy in the store... except instead of an HDMI cable being like 20 bucks, it's 2.  I ordered some music cables too because my mic and guitar cables were starting to not work 100 percent of the time.  I'm just glad that I can get what I need to make the creative things I want to make.  That's my ultimate goal is to be able to just have money flowing in from my creative works to support more creative works.  If I could eventually make a living on making creative things... oh gosh, that would be my dream!  Anyways, so I'll be working on all kinds of creative things this weekend!  I also am playing around with more things in my newest song.  I just have had so little time to really work on things.  But I'll eventually finish a new song and a new video in the near future.  I'll post it here when I do.

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21Feb/120

bugs and bad dreams turned funny

If bugs and creepy crawlery spiders creep you out... skim this quickly and read the parts that don't creep you out.

It's not really all THAT creepy... but for people who get creeped out by bugs easily I just wanted to write a warning!

Ok here goes...

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream.  Well... it wasn't really BAD... but...

Basically I was scuba diving... except I could breathe the water.  And the water wasn't really there.  So myself and people I didn't know were in some old sunken building as a group of people.

And we're floating around inside this old barn.  Because scuba diving without water... is just floating... or float diving.

Right well... things were going kinda ok... the group was just exploring things.

Well all of a sudden I'm behind the group trying to catch up.  So I see a shortcut through a side door and I can see through that room to the other room and the leader of the group just in view.  I think I'll just play catch up by going through this room and skipping the round about way.

As SOON as I'm in the room... I look up.

Oh crap.  Spiders EVERYWHERE!  Webs and hanging and all shapes and sizes... and they cover the doors and...

They are just EVERYWHERE!!!!

So of course I wake up and jump up out of bed... Im like brushing off every part of my body and looking around the room and my bed and brushing off my arms and legs and hair and face and back...

after about 15 or 20 seconds... I kinda realize I look really ridiculous.

And that there aren't any spiders on me.  Then I'm thinking well... at least no one can see me.

I lay back down.  BUT, I can't sleep.  Lame.  I keep thinking of that scene in the underwater scuba barn tour with the sea spiders in their webs!

Yuck.

Wellllll... THEN... All of a sudden.  I have a random thought.  I think to myself if I picture a spider wearing a pink tutu... maybe that will take away the creepyness factor.

AND, it worked!  I feel asleep shortly after because I couldn't get over the whole image of a spider trying to be all spider like... while wearing a pink tutu...

I mean just picture ANY thing or any person in a pink tutu and immediately the whole scary creepy factor is kinda gone.  And it just turns funny.

A pink tutu is that frilly thing around the waste that ballerinas wear.  In case anyone wasn't sure.

Well... so I fell asleep.  And then I dreamed a second dream where there was a spider the size of a cat in front of me in a parking lot and I'm trying to get to my car.  And it's trying to be all scary and block me.  And it sticks out it's fangs.  It's basically a giant looking tarantula.  Then I just laugh at it.  Because it's wearing a tutu... and then it just starts to dance.  Except it dances like that scene in Space Balls with the dancing alien that dances across the diner table.

So that made it funny.  That was all there was to that second dream.  Well I hope my dreams tonight are less like last night and more like... Ummm... well anything that doesn't include spiders.

So why the bug title?

Well I got to work today.  Annnnnnnnnnd my coworker decided to bring in a little something different.  He had this delicacy from back home where he's from.  Yep... it was bugs.  Ewwwwwww... well these were little cooked and dried something catapiller bugs or I'm not sure...

Basically something out of Lion king when they are Hakuna matata-ing it up.

Yep... grub.  ACTUAL grub.  Gross.  But I tried one little tiny little itty bitty bite.

My boss video taped me trying it.  I'll have to get a hold of that footage.  I think my face was probably something very odd when I was eating it.

It tasted like sticks and leaves and sunflower seeds... and pollen.

or something like that.  It was an odd taste.

Meanwhile my coworker was eating them like chips.

Well that's my bug stories for today.

 

In other news my cables came in!  So maybe I'll discuss that stuff more tomorrow.  My mom is supposed to be coming home tomorrow night after work so hopefully I'll be going to pick her up after work.  But we'll see.  She's got an infection thing that they are treating with antibiotics and it seems to be not going away super quickly.  So a trip to the doctor on wednesday turned into 2 days in the hospital which then turned into she's still in the hospital until hopefully tomorrow night.  If not it might be another 2 days.

Wednesday I'm playing my wish upon a hero song at a tribute for one of the professors that recently passed away.  I'm pretty nervous about that.  It should be a very nice ceremony though.  I was asked to play that song by one of the people helping to organize things.  So I'm kind of opening things up with my song.

Anywho... I'm just really sleepy now.  So...

For now... I'm off to sleep!  Goodnight!

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19Feb/120

A tweak to my labeling system thing

I was at work yesterday and organizing things as I do sometimes when I work saturday.  It's a little less crazy hectic than the regular work week so sometimes I can work on putting things back into at least a semi organized way for the room that I'm in.  I also use the time to catch up on things and as well try to think of faster better newer ways to do what I already do.  This is especially true for anything that I do over and over again.

Well, I noticed that we were running low on masking tape.  This is one of the key components of my labeling system.  We did have some more on order but I needed to conserve resources a little since it probably will be another few days before it comes in.  Oh speaking of things coming in... I'm still waiting for my order for the able to connect my camera to my TV so I can start working on my live action construction paper comedymation thing.  It should be soon though hopefully!  Anyways so yes running low need to conserve...

Well, I thought about what I do with the labels on the computers that I am preparing.  See, I really do label computers and laptops with 3 or 4 different stages of what type of work they need and all that.  Well, I realized I was writing the SAME things over and over again!  I thought well, that's a waste of tape and time... although it helps keep my penmanship all fancy pantcy looking.  But with lots of things to do I thought taking that time to write things over and over could be an extra little bit of time to get more stuff done!

So I thought about it and said to myself... I need a place to store pieces of saved tape with common things written on them that I can re-use over again.

After looking around I had it!  I took some paper from the printer.  I took clear packing tape and covered the piece of paper in packing tape.  Now I had a place to store sticky tape labels when they weren't in use!

And after I finish with a label I can take the label off the computer and then place it on the sheet and then stick the next status label on the top of the PC or laptop.

I saw a gain immediately in my workflow productivityness at work!  It's super cool because there's something about having to stop and find the pen and write a new label and pull off a new piece of tape and stick it on there that just disrupts my flow-jo-mo-jo of thinking and what I was doing.

If I have the labels already made up and just peel and stick and re-peel and re-stick... my flow of thoughts just keeps on flowing!

It's fantastic.

I'm super excited about the temporary label addition to my system.  If you have a workflow with anything where you need to label and re-label and constantly use the same stages of labels for things over and over again... try this out!

I think that it might be REALLY helpful!  So yea like one example of the new workflow is when people bring us laptops that have virus's on them.

Now I can label the laptops as they come in so I know if they are not worked on, currently having a scan done, which scan utility is being run... we use a few of them... and then if it's ready to be returned to the user and it's awaiting pick up.

This will also be useful when we replace existing machines and build configurations and transfer data from existing setups to new ones.

I'm trying to think of other places this could be very useful and for me at home I've thought about the various hot beverages that I order.  So, I don't always order the same teas, or the same type of coffee.  Sometimes I'll order one and then not re-order it the next order but then maybe 2 or 3 orders later or trips to the store I'll buy it again.  Well I could save the label and then just peel and stick when I do decide to get that again.

I think it might also be useful for keeping track of all my construction paper crafts and things that I'm going to be creating for these videos.  Since I'm going to be building different items and little stuff for the videos and then taking them apart and constantly reworking them for each video trying to re-use the same materials... Well I'll have to create various boxes and folders with different pieces and shapes that can be re-used.  So I think it's inevitable that I'll have to change labels.

I actually have thought of a LOT of places this labeling and re-using labeling system will be VERY useful is up at camp.  Especially with things like the various art or cooking or stained glass studios where sometimes items depending on availability and interest and to keep things fresh things will change but usually it's cyclical.

I think it could be useful as well where the same container is being used to store different items on a cycling basis... maybe monthly or yearly... So then the label can be saved and reused again as the cycle repeats.

I'm trying to think of a better way to make some more permenent labels where I can maybe print the labels and then laminate them and then use velcro or something.  I'm not sure yet exactly.  I don't know about lamination and velcro because then it starts to get more pricey and involved.  I'm just trying to keep it simple and sweet and neat and fun and useful.  RE-Useable labels but keep it cheap.

Anywho if anyone has a use that they think this might work for them feel free to try it out!  All you need is a sheet of paper and a pen or sharpie and masking tape and packing tape...

Put the packing tape on the paper and a piece of masking tape on top.  Write whatever you need on the masking tape and then peel it off and stick it on another piece of packing tape on the item that you are sticking it to for labeling.  Then when you feel like you need a change... take the old label off and place it back on the sheet!

Bam.  Eventually the sticky side becomes less sticky... but it seems to work for at least a good  10 sticks and peels... at least that was as far as my testing got yesterday.  Although that was just me peeling and sticking over and over again to see how it worked... I stopped at 10.  I don't know if maybe leaving it stuck for a few months changes the stick factor.  It probably does.

Anywho that's what I've got so far!  Hmmm... this is almost a marketable product!  Sort of.  I'm sure there are re-useable sticky labels out there somewhere.  But for now this is what I use.

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16Feb/120

Micro Business Idea (Cat Cookies and Peacock Pens)

OK so I've been listening to all these yale entrepreneurship podcast as I've written about before... well... it's making me REALLY want to start some kind of business.  When I'm listening to these podcasts my brain starts churning and thinking of cool ideas that could possibly not only generate profit and be successful but also maybe help other people or society in some way!

So here's the idea that I had the other day... I figured I would just share it out see if anyone was interested or thought it was a cool idea and maybe make it happen!

OK here's the deal:

So there's this space up the street from work that used to be a borders bookstore.  It's a pretty big space and so it's hard to find a new person to lease out this big space I'm guessing because it's been empty for a LONG time now... so the space is just starting to become a super eyesore and looking pretty gross in an otherwise thriving business area on the street.  I'm thinking well... let's see... I mean if I were the owner of the building what would my options be?

1: Lease it out to someone that needs a SUPER huge space like that... kinda difficult to find someone like that.

2: Tear it down... build something new... that needs permits and approvals and all kinds of red tape... and probably lots of duct tape... not likely.

3: Again, tear down and build a few smaller shops... OR... convert it to smaller shops... hmmmm... close... but that's still costly and takes permits and time and such... Let's see... HOW about...

4: Here's my idea: Open the space up inside and make it into some sort of micro business venue... a what?

 

Let me explain... so you've all been to flea markets or trade shows or any sort of conference where a bunch of different vendors setup booths.  Like my friends who run the summer camp I go up to in june every year go to camp fairs and setup a little booth with lots of other camps and then parents walk around and get information about all the different camps.  Or when there's like a street fair there are all these little booths and some sell gyro's and some sell world music and some sell smoothies and some sell earrings and necklaces and such.  Those usually last for 1 day... or maybe 2... rarely 3.

But why only last 1 or 2 or 3 days?  Why not do something more permanent that's there all the time?

Following yet?  No?  Ok... well... What I want to do is help people who want to start a business but they don't have enough of anything to pay rent on a full store.  Or maybe they don't have time to be open 9-5 or they don't have enough of anything to be anything.  But they have a good idea or talent or whatever.

Well... there are online options for this.  Someone can start a business on ebay, or etsy, or a small dotcom and sell their little nifty fun things that they made.  And that's totally cool.  But I was thinking sometimes I really do think it's fun just to go and browse and shop and walk around and see what's what!  I know everyone is all about the online stuffs these days... and I am too!  But I think a real life version of ebay/etsy and such would be cool too!

Starting to get it?

Right well, yea so here's what I want to do... rent out a big space... then partition it, just like with little temporary partitions like in an office space... and then the size of the partitions can be maybe 3 different sizes... so maybe a small medium and large size space.

Maybe the small space can be like 100 bucks a month, and the larger space goes for 300... and  it would be all inside of the WHOLE entire shop called Micro Business World... WELCOME to Micro Biz World!  We're in the business to bring you people with ideas who want to get into business!

SO let's say we have maybe 30 different mini business's in this whole entire place.  The collective micro rents will pay for the big giant rent.  I guess it's like an apartment building with tenents... it's also kind of like a mini mall.

But here's my other part of this idea... so this sort of kind of already probably exists somewhere... but what I think would be cool is if someone has an idea for a little tiny business but they don't have any seed capital maybe we can also help make them a micro loan to get started and then they promise to pay back the money from their profits.

Again, i'm just playing around with an idea I had.  I have lots of ideas.  But I think this could be pretty cool and fun.  I mean maybe as well there can be themes or events or each of the business's can help each other or they can maybe compliment each other.

So let's say your micro biz is one thing that relies on another thing.  Hmmm... what's an example?

Oh!  I've got one!  Let's say one business is in business to make cool personalized stationary.  Or custom little cool write in diary books or something.  Well maybe then the person next to your space can be something related... like a business that makes cool funny weird pens and pencils and stuff.  So then after you buy your custom stationary they can refer them to the next booth and maybe offer specials and things if you buy a funky pen or pencil that looks like a peacock!

 

BUY MY PEACOCK PENS!

And head over to the next booth for cool stationary!

And then after buying the cat paw print stationary...

you can head to the next booth to buy your little kitty some delioucsly scrumptious home made...

CAT COOKIES!!!

Cat cookies and peacock pens!  OH MY!

I mean there's sooooooo many options with this!  The other things that's cool is that by having super micro small stores where they are paying rent to someone who is paying the rent means that the actual rent contract that is renewed every 5 years or something could be done by the BIG overall store.  But then the rent durations for the individual booths could be only 1 week... or 1 month.  This way... the little guy or gal with a big idea can actually have more of a chance of making it real without having to hop over a thousand hurdles to get their idea to be a reality!

Also maybe some shops run from 6-10 pm and others run from 8am to 12pm.  This leaves more flexibility for people to work a real job, or go be a student, or be a mom or dad at home... and then if they can just steal away from their responsibilities they can run their little micro business.  And since they don't have to worry about taking care of other things that would take away from their business that we will take care of they can focus more on getting off the ground.

So for example... we'll take care of cleaning, and paying electric, and water, and bathrooms, and all that stuff.

And I think really what this would be is maybe you start with us with a small 100 dollar a month booth... if your biz flops then you can close up the booth and someone else moves in... or maybe we can even try and help figure out why is flopped?  But let's say your business is booming... well you can then move to a bigger space... and once you've outgrown the big space for us... you can move into a real legit shop in a mall or a stripmall, or anywhere else!

So basically what I want to do is lower the barriers to entry of taking a business from idea to actual reality.

Barriers to entry is this thing in business where if you have a business idea and want to make it real it's what it would take to make it a real thing.  So for example... if I want to start selling balloon animals... that's a pretty small barriers to entry.  I buy balloons and a air tank and learn to make animals... and bam.

But let's say I want to start manufacturing rocket ships.  That's a little bit more involved and takes a little bit more start up capital and knowledge.

But if I can lower the barriers of entry of building a start up business I think that would make it easier for people to try out a business idea who might otherwise just kind of let the idea drift off into oblivion!  After all, it could be the idea that changes the world!

I think if I were to do a booth I might do a computer teaching booth, or maybe a clean up computer virus's while you wait.  So you can drop off your computer and then go browse the fine selection of peacock pens a few booths over.

Now I kind of want to sell peacock pens.  BUY MY PEACOCK PENS!

So, anyone interested?  In the idea, not the pens... although... if people want peacock pens I might be wiling to start making those... although, I think I like the cat cookies more.

 

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15Feb/120

A post v-day post

Well... it's almost over.  It was an ok day.  Just pretty normal for the most part.  Work was super busy and lunch was good.  I came home and just kinda zoned out.  Made a pretty sweet southwestern omelette.  Watched some random things on netflix.

I got an email that my cables have shipped.... 3 business days.  Then I can setup my camera with my TV and start making my next video.  It's just going to be a creative comedy video with construction paper cut outs.  It should be REALLY funny.  Then I'll work on my vlog part 2!  That's going to be pretty funny as well.

I want to make a video music video too for a few songs.  My plan is to try out this thing where CD Baby lets you monetize your songs on youtube.  So basically you can sign up for this sync thing once a song is on CD Baby.  After you've uploaded it and sycned it you can then start getting paid each time your song gets played anywhere on youtube.  Or even a piece of it.  So my "plan" is to make a music video that will hopefully be cool and nifty and neat enough to be something that would be soooooooo funny people would send to all their friends... and then those friends send to their friends and their friends send to their friends... and before you know it... I've got a million hits!  And since I'll be using the sync thingy... I can then get like a half a quarter of a fraction of a cent from each of those views of the funny music video!  And THEN, I can put that money into making more videos and songs and recording equipment etc. etc. Which would just be soooooo super duper sweet.

Anywho yea so I dunno... I was thinking about that dream date thing and I think... well... it doesn't have to be a Valentine's date... it could just be an any time date.  So I mean... I'll just let the idea stay floating out there in idea land... I definitely think drinks and appetizers would be a fun little date.  But tonight just staying in... it wasn't bad.

I think I finally had my fill of V-day stuff though when my facebook feed was filled up with people either posting or commenting on other posts of pictures of V-day flowers that they got from their significant others.  I guess I got a LITTLE jealous... but it's ok... I'm pretty happy just being single and being myself.  When things happen how they are supposed to happen... well... they just will!

And I believe that.

Well it's time for me to get to bed... I've taken the day off tomorrow to take my mom to some doctors appointments and things.  She's got another infection.  So we'll see how that goes tomorrow.

I think if nothing else... getting texts from my mom and my dad each wishing me happy Valentine's day was pretty stellar.  I wished them both happy V-day back.  I'll take that.

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13Feb/120

Oh Hey, It’s Valentine’s Day.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  I think it's a nice day either way... I mean... I'm single, and I don't have any plans of the romantic type for tomorrow with anyone.  I'm happy for people who are super in love and all that gushy stuffs but I'm also happy to be single and happy for people who are happy being single too!

My only plan so far tomorrow is work and I'm meeting my family friend Mr. Pete at the pizza place for lunch to talk about music things (he's soooo much like family that I actually call him Uncle Peter)... we just picked a day this week that was the least things going on for both of us at work around lunch time.  We usually meet for lunch a couple times a year just to chat about music stuffs and all that since he's a musician as well.

I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to post about... but... I've sorta thought of what I want to say...

Ok... So, I think what I'm going to write about is sort of a post about my blog post last year I wrote a few weeks before Valentine's Day...

Last year I blogged two V-day posts... one was on Valentine's Day about my dream girl... I think I was mostly just trying to describe... this.. girl...  She's... well... sigh... she's just awesome... hmmm... yea... She's cute/funny/smart/talented/creative/hardworking/driven/I could go on forever... she's just... one very awesome gal.

Ok... sigh...  but I also wrote a post a couple weeks before V-day about going on a super duper magnificent hot dream date.

So this year I'll write about the date I wish I could go on tomorrow night... but... well, I've been thinking... it doesn't HAVE to be a super hot dream date with someone that I'm head over heals in love with and she's super duper in love with me.  I mean...

That's a lot of pressure!  That would make me sooooo nervous!  And probably make the girl nervous as well!  So instead of some super super whoaaaaaaaaaaa OMG date....

 

Here's my dream date for this year's V-Day:

It doesn't have to be like whoa in love.  It doesn't have to mean we are in a relationship.  It doesn't have to mean we are together forever and a day.  It doesn't even mean we have to keep talking to each other ever again after the date.

It could just be one single Valentine's Day date and then that'd be all it would be.

I think it would be just amazing to just go on a little date to get some appetizers and drinks somewhere and chit chat for an hour with a girl even if it's just that one date and that's all it is.

It could just be drinks, some food, annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd maybe just one little flower... like some orchids...

 

But, it doesn't have to include orchids... unless the girl asked.

hmmm... I think that flower looks very nice....

and it's moderately priced! http://ww31.1800flowers.com/product.do?baseCode=18524&dataset=11784&cm_cid=d11784

It's called a moth orchid... I don't know how romantic moths are....  But... the flower does like nice!

There's lots of other ones though... here's some other Orchids http://ww32.1800flowers.com/collection.do?dataset=10257&conversionTag=true

Anywho... yea maybe just a little meet up at a little restaurant like... bahama breeze or something like that.  I rather like that place... it's an inviting and relaxed atmosphere...

Get some drinks, and a little food to munch on... just chat and have fun and be friends...

and maybe play footsies... ok ok... maybe not so much on the footsies. Ok, no flowers and no footsies... but just... food and drink and funtimes and chatting for an hour.

Yea... that would be fun.  No pressure... just hang out for an hour or so and then go.  I guess maybe the whole over the top super wild extravagant date could be for later on down the road in life... but for tomorrow night...

I'd be so unbelievably happy with just a little fun short date like that.

No expectations.  No "let's keep dating".  No "let's be in a relationship".  No "let's be in love".  No "let's get married and have 5 thousand babies"...

 Just a date.

 

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