Had a pretty low key weekend, which was nice, and I think the last remnants of the cold have finally shaken off. It is still frustrating that I am finally where I have always dreamed, but am now physically limited and unable to utilize the property to the extent I had planned. I spent some time looking into treatments and possible solutions, but I don’t think a complete recovery is possible.
I decided that I will try out the DMSO and ordered some over the weekend, and if it really is as much of a miracle cure as some people claim, I hope to see positive results. I also started looking into those exoskeleton leg supports but haven’t found just what I’m looking for yet. I’m likely going to have to reach out to the companies to see what exactly they can do – I’m not interested in being able to hike longer or suffer less fatigue on inclines, I want something that will help my balance and let me walk around without a cane. Really, I just need to find something that will keep my leg from collapsing when it suddenly believes it no longer exists. Plus, it would be nice to be able to have the use of both hands to carry things around.
I’ve been tinkering with some other less physically demanding projects. Several years back I decided to formulate my own beard oil and balm. I was getting tired of the cheap crap being sold, and when I finally found a company that was reasonably priced and good quality, they now appear to have gone out of business and their website is stagnant with no inventory whenever I checked. My actual favorite was just too expensive – $25 for a tiny bottle that barely lasts me a couple weeks. My napkin math told me I could make a high quality blend for substantially less. So I started making that again for myself, and while I have shared some with some friends, I never expected to do much more with it.
Until I shared it with one particular friend from Twatter.
He raved about it to me and ultimately convinced me to look into selling it. Now, I don’t want to go all in on beard oil production but I have thought that I could sell it as a small “boutique” brand and do something like mix a batch of it once a month. I’ve kept the fragrances relatively simple so that it wouldn’t conflict with whatever else I’d be wearing (usually Hermès Terre d’Hermès). Right now, I have two fragrances: Cedarwood Campfire (for day use), and Lavender Bergamot (for night use). I have a couple other fragrances in mind (including some more complex esoteric ones) but these two are the ones I designed for my daily use so would be the first I’d start selling if I move forward with this project.
My wife and I also decided to reboot my old bookstore. While I never had a physical location and did most of my business online, I did attend shows and would sell books there. Books have always been a passion of mine and I have thousands, though many of them are part of my former inventory.
One of my past mentors in the business, Peter Howard, who owned Serendipity Books in Berkeley, California, gave me a solid answer when I asked how to make money and be successful in the book business. He looked me squarely in the eye and said, “Buy the storefront property, sell books for twenty years, then sell the property.” I wasn’t in the position to do that then, so I just sold online – but now we may just go that route. There’s a main street storefront property in our small town for sale, and it just might be the right one. We could likely buy it outright (if we tap into some investments) but are still considering our options.
Interesting Tidbits
Song of the Day: The Evil That Men Do by Iron Maiden
Serendipity Books, R.I.P. – The anecdotes in this are true. I knew to not bug Peter with questions if the Giants weren’t playing well, and knew he’d give me better deals when they were.
‘I crash funerals to reveal people’s secrets – and get paid for it’ – “A ‘coffin confessor’ isn’t the kind of job you’d usually see on LinkedIn – they’re people hired by the deceased to carry out a final act, such as crashing a funeral to declare a truth or giving a message to a relative at their graveside.”
‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ Fans Can Now Hear the Show’s Actual Radio Broadcast – “If you’ve ever watched WKRP in Cincinnati and wondered what it would be like to actually listen to the station, now’s your chance to find out: a fan created a six-hour listening experience that will make you feel like you’re really there, tuning into Johnny Fever (Howard Hesseman)’s and Venus Flytrap (Tim Reid)’s radio shows live.”
Abby and Brittany are legally two separate people – except at work – “The American sisters, who work as fifth-grade teachers in Minnesota, revealed they divide up their responsibilities at work but only receive one single wage, which they share between them.”
Terence Stamp, British actor who portrayed General Zod in early Superman films, dies at 87 – “His death on Sunday was disclosed in a death notice published online, prompting a wave of tributes from and an array of fans and those close to him within the industry, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA.”
Leave a Reply