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"When I taught my kids to take in strays I didn't mean humans." - Kat regarding the dating choice of one of her kids.

Tuesday, 2-28-23: One mile...
I jogged one mile on the cellar treadmill at a pace of 7.3 miles per hour so it took a little over 8 minutes. It's the first jog I've done all month. What a bunch of crap! It'll be the last jog I do as well since this month ends in a few hours. I jogged 6 miles in January, and hopefully next month I can do better. I do get my steps in and then some by working the busy shifts at the restaurant, but the cardio is certainly lacking. I only played racquetball three times all month as well. I suck!

I did lose some precious... precious time for exercise by having to work most of every Sunday. We got really busy on most Sundays due to hosting a Country Jam in our event room each week. Lots of retirees show up for that, and a lot of them get food. Keeps the kitchen incredibly busy for a few hours stretch, and I need to be there to help with it all. We did hire new help so hopefully we don't have to be there as much on Sundays in the weeks to come. I know the next few weeks will be tough with not only several incredibly busy restaurant days on the calendar but also with tax clients left to take care of. The tax clients trickle in just enough to keep me in the office a few hours a day a few times a week focused on that. No appointments tomorrow after 1215, but I know I'll end up busy because that's what happens.

Sales will be dog shit today due to snow, but we exceeded last year's February by a decent number. Anything we can do tonight is like a bonus, but obviously we prefer things to be somewhat busy. Tomorrow will be much busier with trivia and better weather expected. Trivia nights have gone really well lately thanks to Jay, our maintenance manager who hosts it. He also has a helper, Zack, and the two of them really do a great job.

I had to pay the electric bill for the restaurant yesterday. The bill was $3650, and I "only" paid $3000. A $3000+ electric bill = what a bunch of crap! Most months it's between $1500-$2000, but it always does increase in winter. Last year the highest electric bill we had was around this time of year, and it was around $3000. Gods damned electric rates around here. Epic failer.

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

We come so close to breaking even and then we get stuff like that. We need to break even by this spring or else we're pwned. I know winter is more expensive so I never expected to turn a profit over January and February, though. Heat, electric, and lost revenue from some snowy and really cold days hurt. Plus a lot of people have "Dry Januarys" and other health-related resolutions that are not good for a bar and a restaurant.

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Monday, 2-27-23: No court yet, epic failer work shift.
I ws supposed to go to court last Thursday at 1000, but it was cancelled due to a snow storm that we really didn't have. We were supposed to get a two-phase system with 3-6" Wed night/Thurs AM and another 3-6" Thurs evening into Friday AM. The first "storm" only dropped about a half inch, but things got cancelled anyway including the courts. What a bunch of crap! I would have rather just gone since I planned for it, but oh well I guess I'll find out soon enough when the reschedule date is. Thursday night we only got 1.5" of snow as well, but it's been friggin' cold so that sucks. A lot. Not -20 cold, but -5 at night and only teens in the day over the weekend. More snow tomorrow = winter not done for a while.

Things have been BUSY at work lately (minus the occasional slower snow days), and weekends really thump. Friday night was a total shit-show and ended up being one of the worst shifts I've ever had there. We did a lot of business and had great sales, but it was a struggle the entire time.

I got there around 1700 as usual, and it wasn't too busy. I had tax clients stop in with a few questions, and in the 10 minutes I spent with them (scheduled start time wasn't until 1800 for my restaurant shift) things really went south. We seated something like ten tables, and we only had one server on with a trainee server. It got BUSY. We got overwhelmed pretty quickly, I had to take tables, and finally I had our host just stop seating people for a bit. Our other server was late so we were bigtime in the weeds. I had a server yelling at the kitchen for burning a pizza, a cook stormed out, and that was only the beginning of the shit-show.

Thankfully my awesome wife came down to help, and Katherine offered to help so she took over a ten-top that I had that I really didn't have time to deal with. Not long after that I had a beotch customer call our server a "C*NT" so I had to toss her dumb ass and give her a 30-day ban. She's a somewhat regular customer whom no one really likes anyway. Earlier in the shift she pulled me aside, and I was inredibly busy at the time, to tell me there is a little water around the toilet in the women's room. It wasn't much at all, and I knew there was a small leak so I told her the plumber was already on the schedule. That wasn't good enough for her worthless ass. She wanted to take me into the bathroom to show me, and then she hit me with this pearl of wisdom:

"When I flushed it there was a gurgling sound." I could only reply "It's a toilet, they make noises sometimes." I had to flush it and it worked just fine, but she wouldn't leave it alone and was adamant something was wrong with the flush itself. HEY YOU NINCOMPOOP LADY TOILETS WITH A COMMERCIAL FLUSH OFTEN MAKE A LOUDER SOUND THAN THE HOPPER AT YOUR OWN HOUSE. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

Thankfully she was a turd who washed herself out not long after that when she decided to insult my staff.

^Always gonna be those people who are the turds in the punch bowl of life. Epic failer.

My bartender told me there was a puddle on the beer cooler floor, and I was aware of that from the day before but thought someone had just dropped a bottle and it broke open. Nope, the Guiness keg attachment had a small leak so I thought I could fix it and instead a couple turns later with the wrench and I was taking a beer-shower when it went everywhere. No solution there, only problems. What a bunch of crap!

We stayed busy all night, and the new server had a 10-top and a 12-top while having almost no experience with our POS (Point of Sale) system. What a fuckin' mess. She got tickets mixed up and it took forever to sort that out. She had a guy at a table treat her shitty because of a burned pizza so she was in tears, and it was all-bad. Her second day on the job and I thought for sure she'd just quit. Thankfully she did come back for her Sunday shift, and she did a good job. (Maybe? Hopefully!)

I could go on and on about how rough that shift was, but I have other things to do. Thankfully Saturday was better despite the fact we had a server come to work drunk.* Yeah, fun times. She dropped the blue cheese and started bawling. In hindsight it's funny, but not really it's time for her to fly straight as an arrow or gggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettttttttttttttttttt oooooooooooooouuuuuuuutttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt! Then, at the end of her shift when she was sober, she was all pissed off at her for making her stay all the way until after 0100 despite that being her scheduled time to work. What a bunch of crap!

*We knew something was off with her, but she didn't admit to being drunk until much later after she was mostly sober.

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Tuesday, 2-21-23: I gotta go to court this week.
I have to go to court on Thursday because I kicked in an asshole customer's car door in late December last year. What a bunch of crap! I got a letter from the DA a few days ago that looks in part like this:

"On a plea of criminal mischief I will recommend a $250 fine plus fees, and restitution to the damage you did to the vehicle."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'M NOT GUILTY LIKE A BOSS.

Okay, I did kick his car door and leave a big dent. However, he threatened Katherine, he caused chaos, he almost ran people over including myself, and he's a FUCKIN' DINK. Then he got out of his car and beat me up. What a bunch of crap! I fought back, but I definitely lost. I kicked him in the face, but I got body slammed and potatoed in the head a few times. My fuckin' ear was bleeding, but by some miracle I wasn't totally wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket. I should have been worse off.

I'm not pressing charges against his ass, but I will if I need to. I'm hoping the whole thing can just get dropped. I don't want to get our lawyer involved because his fees alone will cost more than that fine and restitution. How much does it cost to fix a dented car door anyway? I think body work can get pretty costly, and I'm sure his mechanic would add a lot of extra meat onto that bone just to try and fuck me over. No way! I'll plead NOT GUILTY and see what happens.

It sucks ass I have to go to court at all. I guess I should get the police report because the cops took pictures of my FRIGGING BLEEDING EAR. I didn't even give a shit after it happened, and I mean it. I was so amped up I didn't even feel it. Where's my Patrick Swayze meme from Road House?

I guess I don't have a PAIN DON'T HURT meme so here is this one instead:

It was definitely NOT time to be nice anymore after that pinhead caused chaos and mayhen in our bar on what should have been a peaceful Wednesday night just a few days removed from Christmas.

After we got into that epic brawl we all went inside and did some serious drinking. poor Jay got hit in the head, my awesome wife got threatened, eyewear was thrown across the parking lot, cops rolled in, and it was all-bad. I do think the police report will show me in a favorable position, but I dunno for sure. I kicked his car door in and he threw the first punch so in my eyes that makes us about even. Maybe? Hopefully!

In case I didn't even explain what led up to the shit-show, here it is in a nutshell: He's around 50 years old and built like a tank. He got hooked up with a 21-year old chick who happened to briefly work for us as a server. He was surely her sugar-Daddy, and he has stalker-ish tendencies. He's the typical possessive stalker-type, and we don't need that shit. This chick was making terrible life-decisions as well. She started pokerizing another guy whom we know, and he called me in a panic last month in a way that was scary at the time but hilarious in hindsight.

Mountain-size stalker-man came into this chick's apartment while she was in bed with this guy. Death threats were issued, this guy called the bar and I answered, and at first I didn't know who the hell I was talking to. Bar wasn't even open, it was midday, and it was lucky for him I was there to answer at all. Guy said he was threatened with a knife because he was caught in bed with this chick, and he had to GTFO immediately. Cops got called, it was a bunch of crap! I asked him why the hell he was calling me when he should be on the phone with 911. OMG.

My life doesn't even make sense half the time. Total fuckin craziness half the time. What a bunch of crap!

We got so busy at the bar over this past weekend we had 3 pages of names and phone numbers of people whom we couldn't let in on Saturday night. OMG! Our poor host was turning people away left and right, and we're hoping to find a way to utilize the event room for the next several Saturday nights. We need a DJ and a bartender back there to make it work, and that's easier said than done. We only had two servers on (normally we have three), and we were PACKED for several hours straight. We started to get hit hard around 1800, and it didn't let up until close to midnight. Sales were great, but holy Jesus it was a challenge. I took a few tables and made a few extra bucks in tips, but I would have rather had a third server on.

Sunday was epic-busy as well. We had a weekend server quit so that sucked. A lot. We did hire two new servers so only time will tell how they both pan out. We need to hire up still for kitchen and maintenance because business is really booming right now. We can't seem to make a profit yet, though. What a bunch of crap! Hard to profit in the middle of winter when we have a $3650 electric bill. Yes, $3650. OMG WTF?! Plus we've had roof leaks and other issues, but nothing beyond what we now consider the norm.

Sundays are really hard now because we have a ton of people coming for the Country Jam out back in the event room. Sales are better than ever for Sundays, but they make for really long days. Hopefully with new staff in place we can reach a point where I can have Sundays mostly off again. At times we actually have too many customers now. It's a great problem to have, but it's bad at the same time when we don't have the staff to handle it all.

I talked to Mom and Dad on the phone earlier for the first time in 3 weeks. Mom had her right hip replaced just over three weeks ago, and she needs her left side done as well as both knees. I wish I could go visit them, but winter keeps me epic-busy with tax season and everything else. I think Mom should just retire for good at age 66, but she still plans to get back to work when she recovers. I don't see her having fun as a retiree just yet, she might get bored, but what the hell do I know? She does have her grandkiddos only 4 miles away so that will help her pass the time. I'm incredibly glad Jason and Holly live so close to Mom and Dad so they have family so close now.

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Thursday, 2-16-23: 1/3 over and 2/3 over.
I'd estimate my tax season is 1/3 over so far, and winter is about 2/3 done. The sooner winter can get done the better! Today was 52 degrees Oh Jesus hell ya! I didn't really get outside to enjoy it at all, though. I had 6 different tax clients plus the usual emails to respond to and other things that come up. I didn't feel overwhelmed with it at all, though. I don't have any clients tomorrow, I have one Saturday, and none Sunday and Monday.

I'm glad I don't have tax clients tomorrow so I can take care of some other things. We have a couple roof leaks again so I have to deal with that. Our fucking roof. What a bunch of crap that thing is! It's nothing like the severe leaks we had last fall, but it's still a major inconvenience. Last Friday we had a sagging tile that Katherine thankfully saw just before it fell down. It was near the end of the bar on a very busy Friday night so if she hadn't seen it someone would have almost certainly been hit with falling wet ceiling tile and insulation. It made a mess, but it was easy to clean up. There is a lot of snow and ice still on the roof, and as it melts the water finds its way into our restaurant and bar. Gods damn it!

I went up on the roof, and until the snow melts more there isn't much we can do about it. Way too much snow and ice still up there. The event room has a couple smaller leaks, too. Our landlord SUCKS at taking care of things for us. Maybe when I don't pay rent again he will get motivated...

Tomorrow's hourly forecast is this:

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! We open at noon so I think daytime business will suck. Hopefully by evening things improve because we usually have a very busy Friday and Saturday night. Earlier in the week we were expecting only rain before ending as a few flurries, but that keeps changing and now it's looking cold all day. Oh well, at least everything on the roof will freeze up and there won't be leaks for a couple days. So far we've had a relatively mild winter, but it's not done yet and the last part of this month is looking to be cold.

I've been working a lot on weekends, and this coming weekend seems to be no different. We had a new server quit last night (what a bunch of crap!) so now we have to replace her ass. She said she had family issues so he had to go, but maybe it was that asshole table of wrestling fans from the last Saturdays she worked? She was in tears after that shit-show. We did hire a new server to start next week, but we also have to replace a bartender so we're still hiring. We have an interview scheduled for tomorrow, 0930, but if the weather is a toilet maybe she will postpone that. We'll be there so hopefully she can come.

I did a couple interviews on Monday, but neither one of them seems like the right fit. I met with a guy who seems personable enough, but he's not available until after 1400 on Sundays and having weekend availability is mission-critial. Plus a red flag popped up when we found out he lives an hour away. He said no worries he can stay with his ex who lives locally, but WTF is that shit? Then he said if we call him we need to call her since his phone is off. Seems he quit his last job in December so he can't pay his phone bill. HAHAHAHAHA. Even worse, he was at our place as a customer Saturday night so when you decide to buy booze and hang out at the bar intead of paying for your phone you ain't getting hired. PAY YOUR PHONE BILL WHEN YOU APPLY FOR A JOB AND PUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER ON THE APPLICATION YA NINCOMPOOP. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

He should have just put his chick's phone number on there from the start. Gods damn it's hard to find good help. Kids these days...

A lot of my tax clients are older people, retirees, and our maintenance manager and I were talking about that earlier today. He's older and reliable, and it seems a lot of the kids these days are not reliable. I love most of my older clients because they show up on time and are not flaky. They have fairly consistent tax situations from year to year, and they just get it. Most or all of them will be dead in a decade, but oh well maybe I won't even do taxes in ten years.

I had to work as the dishwasher Tuesday night on Valentine's Day beause, get this, our high-school senior dishwasher called out due to having too much homework. OMG! He actually didn't call, he texted. We tried to find a replacement for his shift, but we had no luck. This is what I got from him after I asked him to work at least part of his shift:

"It's not just homework I have a meeting with a teacher I have to attend."

I replied with my standard and oft-used: 10-4

He replied: "What?"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

OMG I'M OLD WHEN KIDS DON'T KNOW WHAT 10-4 MEANS HAHAHAHAHAHA! Is that my fault for using that in a text message? I use it a lot so I dunno. For me it's basic lexicon, but I'm 47 years old and losing touch with these kids.

He lost his Tuesday shift by texting out because he had too much homework to do. We weren't sure he was the right fit for Tuesday evening anyway due to his school obligations; he is a good kid and we like him a lot. He does work Friday nights and Sundays as well, and he has an IQ of 162. I've never taken an IQ test, but I'm guessing mine is nearing the edge of 'tard status. What a bunch of crap!

You can't say RETARD anymore without pissing someone off so is saying 'tard okay? I called it to myself so if you don't like it you can gggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttttttt oooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!

So my awesome wife and I just worked on Valentine's Day. I tried to buy her M&Ms, but I fucked that up. I got peanut butter ones when I thought I was getting regular ones. When the person you love has a peanut allergy that is all-bad. So I ate a few of them tongiht. How bad of a husband am I?!

I'm having what I would call my best tax season ever so far. I have my shit dialed in, and I'm not overwhelmed because I'm essentally not taking new clients. I had one client go to Jackson Hewitt because I told him to go there HAHAHAHAHA. I had another one use TurboTax because I told him he could do it for free online. HAHAHAHA. I don't give a shit I'm happy to lose a few because I always seem to pick up a few as well. I've done about 50 tax returns so far, and I've only had two brand new clients. TWO. One was a high school dependent son of one of my married clients so that doesn't really count, and one was a retired couple referred to me by some of my really good clients so I agreed to take them on. I'm glad I did because they were good customers.

I don't judge a good customer by how much I can charge them, I judge based on how easy they are to work with. Most of my existing customers are great and I am very comfortable with their tax situations. Not all, but most.

Alright turds, all two of you who read this bootleg dumpster-fire of a website, I'm gonna get ready to bivouac now. Hopefully I can get a decent night's sleep because I usually work a lot on weekends and just about tank-out by Sunday night. We get really busy on weekends at times, and Sundays lately have also been really busy since we booked a Country music jam in our event room. I work a lot on Sundays now, but I did get a break to play racquetball last Sunday so that was awesome.

My awesome wife and I might get a day off in April. Maybe? Hopefully!

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Thursday, 2-09-23: Our Google reviews.
We get a notification to the restaurant email address every time someone leaves a Google review of the place, and reading them before bed is not always the best idea. I'm not tired so I'm up past taps, taps, lights out (2200 in the Navy) but not ridiculously late. Only 2230 now, and I just clicked on a review that we got this evening. Thankfully it was a 5-star so Oh Jesus, hell ya to that!

Recently we've gotten a lot of great reviews, mostly 5-stars. However, on Saturday we got two turds in the punch bowl including one horrible review from a horrible person. I know because I was there, and it was a total shit-show. Here is our turd:

REVIEW FROM SATURDAY (ONE STAR):

"Waited over an hour for a salad. Waitress was rude. Not impressed, will not be returning."

What a bunch of crap! Normally I'd be pretty upset at someone on the staff for fucking up, but in this case I ended up having to tell the customers to find a different restaurant in the future. I was there for the incident, I was polite but firm, and I told them not to come back.

We had a 15-top come in mid-afternoon, a bunch of wrestling fans eating before a local wrestling show. We had them before, and a few of them were cranky and didn't tip so well. Red flag there. This time around they had our newest server, and she did her best with them. They all ordered food around 1545, and by 1615 half of them were flipping out because it was taking so long. They were really mean to this server, and they made her cry. Last time we had a table of assholes with a relatively new server she put in her two-week notice after. They made her quit OMG! This time our new server didn't quit. (She called today and we thought she was going to quit, but she just can't work for a few days due to the friggin 'rona virus.)

I digress. Anyway, she did make a couple small mistakes with the order, and the kitchen did fuck up one pizza (put on green peppers when no green peppers were wanted), but I've seen a lot worse go unpunished by reasonable customers. I wasn't there as manager on duty because I usually start that shift at 1700, but I was there early to set up for an event and I had to go deal with it. The manager tried her best, but it was a red alert. I went over and this crotchety beotch was telling me they all ordered an hour ago and no food was out yet. I didn't believe her because I was already on alert with them, but I took the high road and told them I'd go check. The ticket times on their food slips sent to the kitchen all read around 1545 and it was only 1615 so it had only been a half hour. That's not great, but it's not horrible when a group of 15 people all order at the EXACT TIME.

I told this beotch that it had only been a half hour and some of the food was already out. One other person was bitching about a drink so they both stormed right out yelling "Cancel the order!" The wrestling show started at 1900 so they still had 2.5 hours, there was no rush, and big groups always take longer to feed when they all order their own stuff from the menu. One person sent pasta back saying it was too cold, we warmed it up, and that one had to get cancelled as well. It was awful.

Some other people at the table felt so badly that they gave extra tips, but most of them were fucking assholes so when a couple of the worst ones were up front I told them not to come back. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA. It's all-bad when I have to tell a customer not to come back, and 9 out of 10 times it's because said customer got too drunk and either tried to fight, puked, or offended ladies in some way. I never had to boot people for just being bad, sober humans, but that's what happened Saturday. A half hour later that review was on Google. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

The salad wasn't even a big deal either. It was an easy fix so that review is full of lies. Server was not rude, and even I was polite when I told them not to come back. definitely did not take over an hour to get fed. The fuckin' DINKS.

It's really sad because I've been a wrestling fan for 25 years, and I want the local wrestling shows to do well. I know some of the wrestlers including from way back when IWE was hosted at City Side in the banquet room. Wrestling promoters have wanted to bring it back with us, but we have a different vision. Plus not all the wrestling fans are inbred hick cheapos, but enough of them are to the point we don't want them at our place of business. What a bunch of crap!

^Doug, Tommy, and I hold up the IWE signs back in 2010 in the very banquet room that we now use many times a month for a variety of functions (but not wrestling.) We had TONS of fun at some of those shows, and often times we got so drunk we didn't even make it to the end. What a bunch of crap!

Saturday for dinner the restaurant wasn't busy at all, mostly because we were on the back end of a ridiculous cold snap that saw temps plummet to -50 with wind chill Friday night. Finally by later Sat it was up to roughly 5 degees without the fierce wind so at night people came out and we got full. My awesome wife was the DJ, and she had over 30 singers. WOW! It takes a long time to get through a list that long. Some douchebag guy came up to her, saw the list of singers, and got frustrated about the wait and left. Shortly after that was this shitty 3-star review:

Karaoke is fun but the woman who runs it sings every 3 songs and pushes everyone else back. Service was great for a busy bar.

OMG FALSE. The part about good service is obviously true hehe. However, the part about the karaoke host, WHO IS MY AMAZING WIFE YOU DINGUS, is 100% false. She sings at the beginning of the round and then everyone else sings so she didn't sing very much at all. She probably sang after about every hour, but I'm not sure because when it's busy I'm helping the bar, helping the kitchen, helping in dish, helping anywhere I can because there are always other things that need to be done.

Kat really took that review personally, and I feel really badly about it. She definitely does NOT hog the spotlight, not even close to how we've seen other DJs and KJs run their shows. What a bunch of crap!

Sales have been pretty good this week, epecially yesterday. We do a Wednesday trivia and we had a record 18 teams last night. Plus we had a drag show that went well so we ended up with great sales numbers. Today started off well, but then it started to snow so that has hurt quite a bit. It's only a slushy 2", but the timing was terrible starting around 1800 and just now about to turn to rain. Tomorrow will be close to 50 so everything we get tonight will be gone by tomorrow PM. Good riddance!

Overall today was a pretty good day. I did a couple tax returns, I had time to play racquetball, and we watched AEW (wrestling show on TV) before Kat drifted off to sleep. We bivouaced late last night so I'm on a later sleep schedule, and might as well stick to it since bedtime tomorrow night will be roughly 0230-0300. I'm fine with that because I think we'll be busy. We could use a good week after last week's relatively disappointing sales numbers. Our Friday night last week sucked because of the cold, but we had enough business to justify staying open. Barely.

Alright turds, all two of you who read this bootleg shitpile of mine, I'm gonna get ready to rack out. DO NOT GIVE US A BAD REVIEW!

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Wednesday, 2-08-23: Where's my camera?!
I wish I knew where my 10+ year old camera was. I can take pictures with my cellphone, but I don't know what to do with them after that. I did figure out how to text them to people, but I can't get them onto my bootleg computer so I can put them onto this bootleg site that almost no one ever reads. I suck. What a bunch of crap!

I did get the app on my phone to look at cameras at the bar, thank you to Jason for that, and I like having it so far. I was worried I'd get addicted to it, but that hasn't happened yet. Last night both my awesome wife and I did look at the cameras from our phones and it sucked. A lot. We saw staff not doing their shit, and at bedtime that is all-bad. I fell asleep for a while, I woke up, I slept some more, I woke up again, etc. It was a terrible night of sleep. What a bunch of crap!

Nothing works on my phone now regarding the restaurant. I can't see the cameras, and I can't see the sales numbers. Thankfully I can check sales on this computer, and I what is see is great. I already knew it was great, though. I was there for a lot of it! We did trivia, but we missed the end of trivia because it got incredibly busy and it was time to work. For a Wednesday sales are fantastic. We've done better today than we did last Friday OMG! However, last Friday was a weather total shit-show and epic failer all rolled up into one. It was -18 degrees with a wind chill that made it around -50, and that was totally fucked. Business was about half what it normally is because it was so fuckin' cold. Thankfully the cold didn't last that long and it's warmer now. We got into the 40s today so that's a huge win, especially for early February. No real cold is expected for the nexyt week either. Oh Jesus hell ya to that!

I've had a couple days recently where work has been almost all-consuming. Thankfully today I found a balance and I was able to use my bootleg downstairs gym for the best lifting I've had down there, ever. I didn't go crazy with it, but I felt pretty good. I don't lift that hard and that much anymore because I'm old, but I think it was the best gym session I've had in around a year, ever since I moved my gym over to the house. I don't use the thing enough, but I feel like I get enough exercise overall.

After I used my bootleg home gym I worked on taxes for the afternoon before doing trivia and working a bit tonight. I slept like shit last night so I'm hopeful tonight will be better. So far the tax business is going very well, and I don't feel stressed out at all so that helps. A lot. Last year at this time not only was I doing taxes and working at the restaurant but I was also a landlord and trying to finish this remodel:

This is what I wrote on February 10th of last year:

"I seriosuly fucking hate being a landlord these days. I don't have time to deal with this stupid shit. Being a landlord is great when there is free time, but when there is no precious... precious time then it fucking sucks. A lot. Oh, the tenant also has a squirrel running around in her celing. I'm just done with it all. Fin. The end. I had a good 17-year run as a landlord, but if I still own rental properties at this time next year then I have failed. I can't do the restaurant, the tax business, and the apartment. That is too much to handle. I don't even give a shit about the money anymore, I just want more precious... precious free time."

So now I'm not a landlord, and I freed up all kinds of precious... precious time. I've still had days recently that are epic busy, but that's okay because there are fewer of them. Monday was a total ass-kicker because we had new kitchen equipment coming, Jason came up with his helper to work on our cameras and technology, electricians showed up to scope out work that we need done, and there was a lot going on. I didn't get home until after 1800, and for a Monday when we are closed that was bad. It was a bunch of crap!

I definietely think my life is better this year than it was last year at this time, but there are still challenges. We seem to still spend more than we make in order to level-up the restaurant, but that can't last forever. We upgraded the kitchen with some new equipment, we upgraded the technology with a few new camera and other related improvements, and now we need to make more sales and do more business. I do think we can, and if January and today are any indications we're on the right track, but only time will tell.

Today my awesome wife posted some HELP WANTED on the Failbook because we might need more people for when we get busy. January was great, last weekend was not so great (epic cold kept people away), but I think we're going to have a very busy last part of this month and into March. Hopefully into April, May, and all year. We'll see how it goes.

Our pudding-head president Biden gave a State of the Union address last night, but I only watched a few minutes of it. He was talking about banning all assault weapons because that's what people do these days. Ban, ban, ban. Then an alien invasion happens and how do we defend ourselves? It sucks that there are more and more mass-shooters out there, but banning guns is fucking stupid. It will happen in my lifetime because society is getting more and more soft. I see this photo from several years ago, and it's a win:

^Mom, 2006, I believe after Easter dinner on the range shooting an AR-15. AMERICA = FUCK YEAH! Dad is a retired firearms instructor so he found his niche, he did what he loved to do for a long time and he won. Always respect the weapons becaue they are meant to not be treated like a toy. Govermnent wants to take them away?! FUCK THAT! I don't even own an AR-15 but I should. I have a .22, a model 870 shotgun, and a 30.06. Good enough to hunt with.

Dad really did teach us well with firearms. I don't use them that much, but when I do I feel incredibly comfortable with them and I know how to handle them without accidentally shooting myself of someone else.

I have it on channel 1928, 80s channel, and Sting sings with The Police Everything she does is Magic from their Ghost in the Machine 1981 album. Now is Poison's 1988 Every Rose has its Thorn. Open Up and Say Ahhhhh. Fuckin' A album and if you disagree then I hate you. I probably already hate you, but I'll hate you a little more. POISON IS AWESOME. Today we had our Hair Nation playing on the XM radio at the bar and Def Leppard's Rocket came on. It was totally glorious. Then I had a tax client. Then the Interweb went out and there was nothing. What a bunch of crap!

So today I've listened to the 80s in my truck running a couple errands. In the gym when I lifted weights. At work when I was doing taxes. GIMME ALL THE 80s MUSIC!

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Friday, 2-03-23: Not looking forward to tonight's work shift at all.
I normally sort-of look forward to my Friday night and Saturday night work shifts at the restaurant. I'd fuckin' hate it if it wasn't our family business because sometimes it turns into a total shit-show, controlled chaos, but we make most of our money during those two nights so I like to be there to see and to help it happen. If the place is going to survive long-term our Friday and Saturday nights need to go well, and for the most part they do go well because we have experienced staff in place for those two nights.

Tonight I am NOT looking forward to going to work, though. It's -10 outside at this late-afternoon hour, and temps are heading down to close to -20. Plus wind chills might get as low as -50. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! It's so fucking cold that I know a lot of our regulars won't want to even leave the house so we won't be busy at all. This is essentially just as bad as getting a snow event as far as how I expect it to hurt business. Who knows, maybe we'll close early? I'd love to be busy all night, but I don't see it happening.

It's going to be so cold when we close and lock up in the middle of the night that I fear some vehicles won't even start, and that possibly includes my own truck. I did replace my battery a few years ago so hopefully it holds up. We have AAA and I put the jumper cables in the front seat in case I need to give someone a jump or get one. Exposed skin can only take about 5 minutes in this type of cold before the onset of frostbite. OMG! The furnace in the restaurant won't keep up so it will get chilly. At -18 the heat pumps won't work efficiently. We plan to use electric space heaters in the event room, and hopefully the building doesn't catch on fire. If we lose power at all it's game over fast as far as pipes and whatnot.

Tomorrow will be 3 degrees, still wicked cold, but at least winds will slacken and tomorrow night temps start to slowly rise into the single digits, teens, and by midday Sunday to 30. Not bad! Next week I see a couple 40-degree days, too. Nice! If we get through this cold snap maybe (hopefullly) the rest of winter will be easy.

The tax business is picking up, as expected, and that's great because the precious...precious extra money will help a lot. I'm only about 15% through all my clients so far so there is a lot left to do, and a lot of these early ones are easier. The more complicated ones are coming later this month, next month, and April. I have a few clients who take a few hours each. It's good and bad. The good is the extra $$$$ I charge, the bad is losing precious... precious time working on them. I don't want more than a handful of new clients this season or I might not be able to keep up. So far so good, but I have 2.5 months left of tax season.

Right now my awesome wife and I are supposed to be in Lewiston at an important doc appointment. Sadly that got cancelled so we're staying around here. I did have time to lift weights in the bootleg gym, and I FINALLY got the heat working down in the cellar yesterday. I paid our heating guys to take care of it since I couldn't get a Sharkbite fitting on a 3/4" PEX line without having it leak water. What a bunch of crap! Having the heat on downstairs helps heat the living room and kitchen area of the house by a few degrees when it's really cold. Right now it's 72 in here (set to 74) so it's not totally keeping up, but without the heat on downstairs it would probably only be 67 up here now and it would keep dropping down to near 60. The house does great most of the time, but it can't quite keep up during the worst of the cold.

On a positive note our gas bill for January was only $17.94. Oh Jesus, hell ya! This house heats like a boss ever since we had the new boiler furnace installed a couple years ago. We only used 2 therms last month, and the restaurant used 935 therms. OMG!