I'm Back!!

I know, I know, it's been a while and there's no reason anyone should give a damn about this blog thingy.  Sometimes life just throws too many curve balls at you and all you want to do is disappear.  Well that was me for a while and now though I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a few lines.

I’ve been busy trying to get a workshop organized in my basement. That, combined with work and a propensity to procrastinate – especially during the Stanley Cup Playoffs – has left me with very little time to accomplish anything.  

“How busy can you be?” You ask.

Well, I’m up at 6:00 AM, out by 7:50, at the shop all day till 4:30 or 5 and then home.  Supper by 6 and then Judge Judy at 7, work on Etsy projects till bedtime – providing there’s no hockey game – write my book – nap – have a drink – listen to the Thunder (Celtic that is) – tell Oscar to shut up – answer phones – nap again – eat – have another drink – go to bed.  Next day – do it all again.  On the weekend – go to my sister’s house to visit my wood-shop tools, try to build something – have a few rum and cokes and stay up till I can’t see straight.  Go home on Sunday and repeat the process for the next week.

Yes, it’s a rut I know but I’m slowly getting out of it.  However now that my basement workshop is almost done, I will be able to complete more projects.  Oh did I mention try to keep my Etsy business running and now (thanks to my sister) I have a Facebook page, Oh Joy!  More computer time for me to log.  I haven’t a clue what to do with all this social networking.  I don’t have the patience for it at all and it just seems like too much BS to go through.  But if I want to be successful with my online business then I have to do it. I guess.  At least that’s what I’m told.

So now there’s this blog thing that I’ve had no time for and to top it all off Thursday is payday and Canada Post just went back to work after being on strike and we`ve had no money coming in and everybody wants their pay cheque. The rent is due this week and every supplier seems to be holding their hand out.  Is there no end to all this.  I need a drink. Maybe two.  

Did I tell you about my secretary dropping a sixty ounce bottle of rum?  Yep she did it about a month ago.  She was helping me carry out a bunch of stuff to my van and I heard this horrific sound of glass breaking.  When I looked there was the dead soldier (a General) lying on the pavement with its guts all spilled out and running down the sidewalk.  I almost cried.  She was mortified, we held a small moment of silence in commemoration of the newly fallen and fifty bucks later I had a new recruit.  Another General to take its place.  

Back to Etsy.  I have been working on some new items for my shop.  I have a few new fairy doors and a couple small knickknack tables to  list.  I also tried my hand at making a bandsaw box and everyone who has seen it seems quite impressed. So I’m going to make a couple more for the shop.  My treasure chests have been selling well. I’ve sold 4 in the past month and I have orders for five more. I also have an order for a custom fairy door in the works right now and another will be in the works a week from now.  All in all the summer may be quite busy with wood working.  

As I mentioned earlier, Canada Post went on strike, striking fear in hearts of Canadian Etsiers all over the place.  How will we ship?  Will our sales be affected? What are we to do?  Enter FedEx.  Did you know that it costs almost $15.00 dollars to ship a small fairy door to Colorado by Canada Post but I can send a box 3 times that size to the same location via FedEx ground for just under $20.00?  Canada Post took almost 4 weeks to deliver, FedEx had it there in 3 days.  Go figure!  I’ve got one piece of advice for postal workers 

  -- STAY ON STRIKE!!  WHO NEEDS YOU? – 

You make far too much money for the level of education you need.  Most of you only have to know how to walk because judging by what happens to our mail none of you can read and those who can, won’t.  And with the time it takes to get a letter or parcel delivered it’s plainly obvious none of you can drive or even know what a truck is for.  I swear you walk everything to its destination that is, provided you don’t drop it or lose it on the way.  You can’t work because your too busy moaning about your working conditions and for God’s sake, smile!   

You’re making good money - $24.00/hr to start plus benefits and seven weeks vacation each year, not to mention a pension plan rivalled only by our members of parliament and by the way, it will take an act of parliament to get you fired.  It’s obvious you don’t have to know how to read.  You don’t even have to be able count, recognize numbers or even speak for that matter.  All you have to do is show up, grunt and growl at people, kick dogs and spray them with mace, refuse to walk through unshoveled pathways and collect your paycheques. 

Oh I know you have to be out in all kinds of weather, sweltering heat, freezing cold, rain, snow, sleet and hail.  But hey, we pay for your coats and boots and get you taxis when you need them and when life gets too tough for you, you take your sick time which you get to carry over from year to year.  You bank it like money so that when you’ve had enough you go on stress leave for a year and never miss a stroke as far as money goes.  

STRIKE!      STRIKE FOR WHAT?      YOU HAVE IT MADE AND YOU DON’T KNOW IT!!!

Stay on strike.  Do the world a favour shut 'er all down sooner than later because technology is replacing you and soon all you’ll have is each other.

Well that’s it for now.  I promise to try to do another one soon.  Bye for now 

George

Who Do I Think I'm Talking To?

So here I sit writing a blog about who knows what to an audience I can count on one hand and still have enough fingers left to make indecent gestures to the "son-of-a-blank" that just cut me off. Why do it? Why waste my time and maybe more importantly who gives a rat's ass?  Well maybe it's a good place to vent.  Nobody's ever likely to read it and yet if I do it, it is kinda like having sex in public. Someone might actually catch you and after all isn't that supposed to be part of the excitement? As for sex in public, I wouldn't know nor would I want to.  Nobody should see this body unclothed unless they're wearing white smocks and stethoscopes. 

This said, what should I write about?  Well let's see . . . Today is Easter Monday and for many of our government employees it is a holiday.  This year my partners and staff lobbied me to close for the day and so after 22 years in business I finally relented and gave everyone the day off with pay.  All I'm waiting for now though, is for the government to send me my cheque for being so civic minded and generous.  After all, the government employees get paid so mine have to be paid as well but nobody pays me for closing.  Nope I just get to reach up a little further and yank out another days pay for nothing.  To top it all off what did I do with my new found freedom today?  Why, I took my wife shopping of  course. 

Ask anyone who knows me, this is something I never do.  I'd rather stick needles in my eyes than go anywhere near a mall or big box store.  Shopping is a fool's errand.  Buying is what I like to do and that can be accomplished by sitting at my computer and ordering everything I want online.  I don't even need a credit card anymore.  PayPal makes it easy and there are a number of other alternatives as well.

Time for a commercial break:  Commercial breaks are important because this is where you get to go pee or grab a Pepsi or Coke or maybe even a beer.  So take a moment and click on the links at the right and buy something online from one of the truly great vendors whose stores are listed here.  Buy something from me and I promise to send you a smile.

Where was I? Oh yes I took my wife shopping and rather than jam hot searing pins through my already abused eye balls, I sat in the car and waited for her . . . for four hours.  Not only did I have to pay for everyone to have a day off  - (I do mean everyone; my taxes paid for half the Canadian government to sit on their backsides and do nothing. The only difference was today they got to do it at home) - somehow I wound up dropping a couple of hundred bucks at WalMart and DollaRama and I never got out of the damn car. Now to be fair some of what the love of my life bought was for me and for my new Etsy business - (short mini commercial . . . kinda like the pop ups they put on TV while the show is still playin' the credits thirty minutes after it started - oh wait that's a rant for another day) - Some of what she spent money on was for her and wonder of wonders she didn't buy anything for our grand-kids. I really must get her to a doctor I don't think she is well.  This woman never goes shopping without buying something for our babies.  She truly is a good Nana. 

Sorry, I got distracted. It happens easily theses days.  So there I sat in the parking lots of the great mega-malls of our community and pondered the purpose of life. And I finally came to the following realization.  Judging by all the people who walked in and out of the stores we visited today, some people serve no other purpose than to shop; others buy and still others just sit in their cars and count the hours of lost time and how much it truly costs to take a day off.  I should have gone to work.

Good Nite
George

New Beginnings

Ok, so this is it. My first attempt at blogging.  To begin with, I need a disclaimer. "The opinions expressed in this and any future blog are not necessarily those of my wife."  I promise not to intentionally offend anyone however I can't promise that you won't be offended.  If you like what I write, please keep reading. If not, then please move on to a different site. 

I have two purposes for this blog.  First, I have a small internet business on Etsy.com and I will be shamelessly promoting my shop and those of my friends.  I want you to buy from me and I promise you that you won't be disappointed. 

Secondly and probably more importantly I'm doing this to have fun.  I will talk about anything and everything constantly striving to be respectful and considerate of my reader's feelings but with an eye to "telling it as it is" at least in my opinion.

From time to time, I will rant about things that bug me and on occasion I will try to offer advice and maybe even answer a few questions.  Of course all this presupposes that someone other than my wife cares enough to read it.

So for now this is just the beginning.  Please visit my shop, buy something and make me smile.

Thank you.
George