9-04 10-04 11-04 12-04 1-05 2-05 3-05 4-05 5-05 6-05 7-05 8-05 9-05 10-05 11-05 12-05 1-06 2-06 3-06
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"Why do you have red handcuffs with you at work?" -Me to Dakota, a hilarious co-worker after we closed and were all drinking.
"Why would I NOT have them? You never know when you need them!" -Dakota after he handcuffed a co-worker and couldn't get them unlocked.
"Why do you have a cock-ring with you at work?" -Me to Dakota again after he pulled that "toy" out of his bag.
"You never know when you need that, too!" -Dakota

Thursday 5-27-21: I am too old to win at Metriod... or at life?
I had a little bit of down-time tonight, a rarity lately thanks to the boneheaded decision to open a bar/restaurant. I shovelled in some food, I watched a little news (nothing at all noteworthy there), and I had a couple drinks before I played some SNES Classic, Super Metroid. That game is fucking hard! I just played it a couple years ago and I did beat the Mother Brain, but I had to get onto the Interweb to look up how to advance through the various levels. Parts of that game are so damn tricky... I think I need the Interweb to tell me again what to do? It doesn't help that I always drink before and during my games. What a bunch of crap! Playing old video games while boozing = therapudic. Writing on this bootleg site that almost no one will ever read = also therapudic. Does guy even know if THERAPUDIC is spelled right? NOPE. Does guy even care... whether or not he cares... NOPE!

Hwey Morla, how about a sneeze to really match my shitty life-theme so far this month? Morla is fucking awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. I need to watch The Neverending Story again when I get free time because that movie is out-fucking-standing. Too bad the sequel is ten pounds of shit stuffed into a five-pound bag...

^THE NEVERENDING STORY PART II.

So the 'rona shot that I got Tuesday night made me sick all of yesterday. What a bunch of crap! I worked last night because that is how I roll, but it was not a good experience. Things were going well enough until a bunch of simps decided to pile into the place within an hour of closing. We normally close at 2300 on Wed night, but last night we still had 16 customers in the place at that hour. OMG! Obviously I stayed open later to people could finish up. We are trying to make some money here. To make matters worse it was HOT last night, something like 72 degrees at midnight when I got home, so the bedroom was roasting and it was hard to sleep. What a bunch of crap! Fuck A/C at the house summers in Maine are just too short...

My goal for June is to feel well enough to use my gym some and to go for a few jogs, maybe play racquetball once a week or so. Not much of a goal, but this month has been such a huge shit-show that it won't take much to improve upon it. This month has been epic bad. Like, one of the worst months of my life, ever. That includes Navy boot camp (I was too young to know it sucked haha), working at UPS, dating a crazy chick from Georgia, etc...

Well one thing that cheers me up is Debarge on channel 1928, Rythm of the Night. This song is awesome and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more. Was this song in Short Circuit? That movie... so damn good. I wish I could just go back to the 80s for a while, but nevermind I'm sure it would suck. The 80s is obviously the best decade, ever, but I don't want to find a time-warp and go back there. They say don't meet your heros they will only disappoint you and the same is true for my favorite decade. I'd be back in the 80s wondering how to download Internet porn hehe. Just kiddling I don't download Internet porn I don't have time plus I have a hot wife!

I'm not sick like I was yesterday so that is a plus. I figured that 'rona shot would make me sick and sure enough, it did. It will probably kill me when it is revealed one of the ingredients is Soylent Green. Ground-up people keeping the covid out of my system but turning me into a flesh-eating zombie. I think zombies don't really make sense from a purely scientfic perspective. I also think I'll too tired to write much more. I feel a buzz off of about three drinks. What a bunch of crap!

I am NOT going to the bar tongiht. F that. I need to bivouac and rest. Tomorrow Bruce comes to the restaurant to do plumbing for the event-room bathrooms. I don't really have the bathrooms ready for him, but I'll figure it out tomorrow. Maybe? Hopefully! I'm supposed to have the event-room done in 9 days, but that is a 50/50 proposition at best. Today my helper no-showed and didn't even call or text me. What a bunch of crap! Oh well at least I saved on labor cost.

DISCLAIMER: three drinks and I am pwned and can barely type! I worked on the event room some, but not as much as I should have done because, reasons. We had an off-duty server come in last night, she was totally shitfaced, and she pretty much told me she is going to quit because she thinks we are too stupid to run a bar. OMG! She said she has 7-years of experience as a server and she is our best, but that last part is 100% FALSE GOOD RIDDANCE CHICK. We are doing just fine as-is, and Kat has proven to be exceptional at running the place. Me, I am not that great at it because see Morla the Ancient One above. I try to care, but I'd rather be off building stuff. They say if you do what you love you'll never work a day in your life, but what happens when you hate everything about your job? See above; RE: UPS.

I did get a bunch of ceiling tiles painted, and I even installed a few of them. I do like the color, much lighter than the bar area and by design because the event room doesn't have windows so it needs to feel bright and inviting.

My friggin' left arm hurts from where I got the 'rona shot. Does that make me a pussy? I got the damn shot nearly 50 hours ago so all I wanna know is why? Why does it hurt still? Covid is definitely a serious illness, it fucked both Kat and I up bigtime (pretty sure I have felt the after-effects all month from it what a bunch of crap!), but it's time for wold to move on. Either die from it, become a zombie, or recover and live life to its fullest. I'm not sure which one of the three I'll end up being, but zombie seems the least likely. Maybe? Hopefully!

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Tuesday 5-25-21: I got my 'rona shot.
I got on the interweb last night while I was at work, and I scheduled my covid vaccination. There were a lot of places to schedule a shot, but only one place had the Johnson & Johnson shot so I went with that one. CVS inside the Target store over in Bangor. I did not want to go get a shot, but I knew it was the right thing to do so I did it anyway earlier today. Getting a shot = what a bunch of crap! Shots of alcohol = yes please. Shots of medicine = ME DO NOT WANT.

The FDA pulled the Johnson & Johnson vaccine off the market earlier this year because it caused a stroke in something like 6 out of a billion people. Or maybe it was a blood clot? Hell if I know and I stopped caring... whether or not I care to look it up. Will I have a stroke? Probably not from the vaccine, but maybe from being a frigging restaurant owner. I should not own a bar/restaurant, but I do so oh well. Today was a bad day for me ass overall. I was exhausted all morning, and it took me two fucking hours to mount a couple booth-tables to the wall. What a bunch of crap! I got a chance to take a break around midday, and I took a nap because I felt wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket. This has been a fucking TERRIBLE month for me. I can't feel well at all because I work too much and have too much to do. My life is a mess, and I did it to myself so oh well.

^Awarded to myself again because I really have been epic failer lately.

Even though I took a nap earlier I feel exhausted all over again right now. Is it the 'rona shot? I don't know. Maybe I will be sick again tomorrow. This fucking coronavirus really pwned the hell out of my life. Not only because I actually got the damn 'rona but also because of the decisions it led me to make. Would I have opened a bar/restaurant if not for the pandemic? FUCK NO. Last year I was a relatively happy carpenter with plenty of work to keep me going. Now I'm a slave to a restaurant that feels like the Hotel California. Pretty soon I'll turn into the father from The Shining:

I'll chop open doors with an axe, it will be all-bad!

I had some booze tonight because why not? What is the best way to deal with a shitty life? BOOZE OF COURSE. I am not that drunk, though. I have the Red Sox on, and they are losing to Atlanta tonight in the 7th inning at Fenway. The Sox are playing well and have been near or in first place in the division for almost all of the season. I flipped to the Celtics, but they are pwned in their first-round playoff game and they have no chance. I'd rather watch baseball anyway. Pretty soon I'll just go back to bed, maybe I will sleep, and maybe I'll feel better tomorrow...

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Sunday 5-23-21: I need to go get a covid innoculation.
I think somwehere between 50-60% of the Maine population is now fully Covid-19 vaccinated, and the national number is around the same. My awesome wife got her second shot a couple days ago, and it made her sick. What a bunch of crap! Stupid vaccines making people sick. One time I got a mandatory flu shot when I was in the Navy and it made me sick. Ever since then innoculations = me do not want.

I don't want to go get a covid-shot, but I know it is the right thing to do not only for Kat but also for my job working with the public. The mask mandate ends tomorrow, but I'll keep wearing mine when I'm in public because I haven't been vaccinated yet. Having the mask-mandate end is a huge plus for society, and it's long overdue in my opinion. I think it will lead to more customers at the restaurant, too. Maybe? Hopefully!

Occupancy limits also expire tomorrow so on Friday and Saturday nights from now on we can fit some more people into our bar. It was a busy Friday and Saturday night for us this past weekend, especially last night. We were full to capacity for almost all of the 4-hour karaoke show. We had a couple of the staff call out, but we had other newer employees fill in and step up bigtime so last night was a much-needed boost for us all. Business was very slow all during the week so getting lots of people in and spending their precious... precious money on karaoke nights was critical for our budget. Hopefully next weekend, Memorial Day weekend, we can stay just as busy and as an added bonus maybe we can have a busy Sunday night since a lot of people have Monday off that weekend.

I spent a lot of time working in the event room these past few days, and I'm headed to the bar soon to be the evening manager and to work more on the event room. I rented a floor stripper Wednesday morning, and we have 75% of the old VCT tiles already stripped off. I also did 4 trips to the dump to get rid of the debris. Those 12"x12" floor tiles get really heavy when you fill a trash barrel full of them. Hawk has helped me some, and I took pictures Friday:

^Disappear, scumbag tiles! That machine has done a pretty good job overall in that room. Most of the tiles come up okay, but there are some newer replacement tiles that come up harder.

I need to have the room done by June 7th when our first renters start there. They want the room 2 days a week to start, probably a Monday and a Thursday, from about 1100 until possibly 1600. The timing of that is fantastic for us because we could still rent to others in the evening if it's requested, and all the people in the group will *hopefully* spend money on food and drinks. The event room should keep us in business if we find the right renters for it. I'm not 100% sure I can finish it before the 7th, though. What a bunch of crap! The bathrooms need a remodel as well, and I haven't really started those yet. Bruce did stop in earlier to make a materials list so that is encouraging. Hopefully he and Kevin can work on it next weekend.

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Thursday 5-20-21: Spending more precious... precious money.
I started working on the event room at the bar this week. I mean, really working on it. I rented the floor-stripper machine, and today Hawk helped me for a few hours. Yesterday our first room-renters showed up to drop some of their stuff off so that pretty much makes it official. They want to start using the room a couple times a week starting June 7th during the day so I have about 2.5 weeks to finish the thing for them. Can I do it? Not without help!

The event-room is a big 2620 square-foot space with closer to 2800 square feet if you were to include the restrooms. Do those count in the square-footage advertisement that we have yet to make? Maybe? Hopefully! I need Bruce (plumber) and electricians to help with the remodel so hopefully they both can fit me in. I could do all the electrical myself (hehehe) but that is unwise. I am just too slow, and there is too much to do. New lights, outlets, switches, etc. A lot of old electrical needs to be removed, too.

I got a quote for A/C not long ago:

^That is actually for the bar, stage area, and not even the event room. EXPENSIVE! I knew it would not be cheap, though. Needs a roof mount, lift to the roof, and I gotta pay sparkies to power it all up. Thankfully I have awesome electricians. They showed up already today, only 10 minutes after I reached out, to see what I have in the works. How cool is that?!

I don't want to spend more precious... precious money on more HVAC, but it's already been close to 80 degrees in the place a couple times on a busy weekend so what happens in July when it gets even hotter and more humid? Everyone will be saying "It's too hot in here you guys suck." Then I'll be saying "What a bunch of crap!" to myself when they all leave. I hope the landlord can help with some of the costs for A/C that we need, but no guarantees.

I would have loved to be working outside all week since the weather has been fantastic. Unfortunately the only work I did outside fucked me. Hard. I mowed some lawns yesterday afternoon, and it was so dry that pollens and dust blew all over the place. My allergies are bad this week. Like, epic bad. Worst ever bad. So bad I couldn't exercise today because I'm al stuffed up with even my eyes bothering me some. What a bunch of crap! Sneezing 100 times a day, it is all-bad. At times I seriously consider not living here anymore because it gets so bad. All I wanna know is why? Why does this happen? Is it our house and yard? I never had it this bad until I moved into the house back in 2014. I actually want a rainstorm to come through so it knocks all the pollens out of the air.

It's already the third week in May and I haven't felt good at all for the entire month. What a bunch of crap! I recovered from Covid, but then seasonal allergies started up and now I'm pwned again. I'm drinking, I'll get drunk, that should help! My life is totally pwned right now; Kat and I are constantly working ad worn down. That's probably why my allergies are so bad this year. Irregular sleep and way too much work. I totally fucked myself over in my life. Epic fail me.

^AWARDED TO MYSELF FOR EPIC FAILING AND TURNING MY OWN LIFE INTO A SHIT-SHOW. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

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Tuesday 5-18-21: Tax season finally over!
I spent a few hours in the tax office yesterday *mostly* finishing up the season. Normally the filing deadline would be mid-April, but once again this year the deadline was pushed back due to the ongoing Covid pandemic. I'm actually glad the season was pushed back a month because it gave me extra precious... precious time to finish and file our own taxes.

I had a fantastic tax season, especially considering I had no regular office hours at all. When I was there with the OPEN sign on I did get a couple walk-ins, but for the most part all my business was friends, family, known clients, and many new referrals and all by appointment. Last year I did 98 paid tax returns, and this year so far I'm up to 133. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I should end up around 140 since a few more will trickle in. Extensions and whatnot. I greatly exceeded my goals for total number of paid customers and for income. The extra income really helps since so much of our available money goes into the restaurant lately.

I waited until the very last day to file our own taxes. What a bunch of crap! I had to keep picking away at it, and I had to keep looking for more expenses and depreciable writeoffs. I got us down to "only" owing about $12k to both state and federal combined. Oh, I paid the IRS $2000 last summer so we really owed $14k in taxes for 2020. Gods damn it! I expected to owe closer to $18-20k, though. Selling two of the rentals put the tax hurtin' on us, bigtime. I wish I had more rentals that I wanted to sell since the market is really hot right now. I could sell Allen Rd in one day on the market, but F that I have my bootleg gym there and I don't want to give that up. Plus that building is a huge part of my adult life and I just don't feel ready to part with it now.

^Aftermath from a party late 2010, probably New Year's Eve, back when I lived over at Allen Rd with Doug and Tommy. We had some epic fun times in that apt.

I wanted to drink some coffee brandy and milk tonight, but I never went to the grocery store today to get more milk since I worked a lot. What a bunch of crap! So instead I'm using up some random "wounded-soldier" stuff that we've had here at the house forever. I mixed some of this with Coke, and it's not even a good drink:

^ME DO NOT WANT. Probably Coke is not the right mixer at all, but we have a limited selection of anything at all here at the house. I'm not really drunk... yet. Hehehe. I'm hoping to not get wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket since I want to work all day tomorrow. I worked some on the event room at the bar during the day today, but not too much since I was the MOD (manager on duty) and kept checking in on the front of the house. The past two days have not been busy at all at the bar. What a bunch of crap! Probably a stretch of near-summer weather has an effect. All this week we're looking at temps in the 70s with not much rain at all. Awesome weather to work outside. Too bad my work requires me to be indoors all week because I'd much rather be working outside on something.

I should be happy that tax season is over, but I have too much else on my mind to even appreciate it. Days off are cancelled until further notice. What a bunch of crap! I have to get that event room in the bar done before June 7th because I have it rented already. The event room used to be part of a department store, and the HARDWARE sign still remains:

^Awesome blast from the past, probably 50 years ago. I have a lot to do in that event room, but I'll stay motivated and get it done. Maybe? Hopefully!

I started getting a little exercise here and there in the past week since I recovered from the 'rona virus. Getting Covid = what a bunch of crap! Oh well, at least I didn't die. It is hard for me to exercise; jogging is especially difficult and I have to stop and walk some of the way. I did go 2.25-miles today, but yesterday I only went 1.25 miles with a bit of walking along the way. I just don't have the energy that I had before covid. Even during the two times I've lifted weights in my bootleg gym last week I've had to go incredibly light and not lift for more than 30 minutes. Probably part of that is being worn down from working every single day, but I do think having the 'rona set me back quite a bit. I was very sick to start the month when I had that fuckin' virus. FU COVID19!

Poor Kat has been working even more hours than me. What a bunch of crap! Her passion for that bar is amazing. She pretty much runs that place, and I just try to help. I am there a lot as well, but soon we will have more help with the management so it will be nice when her and I can actually sit at home and watch a little TV. We are so far behind on shows that the DVR is probably full to capacity and auto-deleting things. I don't even care... whether or not I care to check it.

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Tuesday 5-11-21: The event room, the tax business, Covid, and my first drink this month.
I finally have a few minutes to unwind, and if things go well I might not even have to work very much tonight. Maybe? Hopefully! No one called out sick for the first time this week so the bar has a full staff. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I'm drinking a coffee brandy and a milk, and I can drink some tonight down at the bar while I hang out for the "open mic" night and help as needed, if needed. For sure I will help close the place and cash out.

I finally feel better after a week-plus bout of the dreaded Covid-19 virus. Kat had it worse than I did, and we were both wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket for a few days. I was at my worst Thursday night 1.5 weeks ago, but I stayed in a world of shit for several days. At first it felt kinda like I had the flu, but then it evolved and I was totally wiped out, exhausted, no energy at all. Even the thought of trying to exercise made me want to curl up and sleep again. What a bunch of crap!

On Saturday night we reopened the bar for the first time after a 10-day layoff, and we did decent business. Not at full capacity like every Saturday night prior, though. On Sunday I felt well enough to try a quick evening jog, but I barely made it one mile and I had to walk some of it so I know I was still recovering from the virus. I did DDP Yoga yesterday for the first time in a couple weeks, and today I did a very light workout in my bootleg gym. I can say the covid is likely out of my system now, but it's nearly mid-May so my allergies are flared up hard. Gods damn it! Guy recovers from the 'rona and then guy gets his seasonal allergies. What a bunch of crap!

I met with a guy yesterday who wants to rent out big event room at the bar for weekly bridge games. I don't know what bridge is, I have never played it, and in my mind I see it as something old geezers do. However, maybe it is fun? I'll find out next month when they all show up to start their games! The guy definitely wants to use the room a couple times a week starting in 4 weeks, and he seemed excited about the space despite the fact it looked like this Sunday night:

Photo from the other end:

^WHAT A MESSY BUNCH OF CRAP! Justin and I did clean the room Sunday night so it didn't look quite so bad when I showed it 24 hours ago. However, it still looks old, dated, and bootleg. I do plan to finish the ceiling, to paint the walls, and to redo the floor. There are also bathrooms in the room that need a total overhaul so I already reached out to Bruce about that.

We don't have much money for the renovations since a few days ago the business had a negative account balance. What a bunch of crap! I did "find" some precious... precious money to loan to the business so bye bye IRA for now, maybe forever if the bar fails. Getting that event room finished and usable will be a huge plus for us financially. We're not renting the room for a huge sum to the bridge group, but they will be in there during lunch a couple times a week and maybe they will even stay all afternoon until supper. I'm sure at least a few of them will want food and drinks. If they don't I'll have to charge more for the room!

That event room is actually Kat's room; she will have the final say as far as paint colors, flooring, who rents the room, etc. Hell, as far as I'm concerned the entire bar is Kat's now and I'm just along for the ride. I've put in plenty of hours at that place so far this week, and I'll put in as many as I can to help her. Today she was down there at 0745 cleaning the toilets (janitor called out so we did have a call out today epic fail!), she received our booze and food, she coordinated workers and schedules, she bartended all afternoon, and now she is setting up for the open mic. OMG EPIC WORK. No one has more passion for that place than she does. It's not even close. I see how hard she works down there and how much she cares and it motivates me to want to do better for her.

I would have helped her at the bar today, but the tax business has taken up a lot of my precious... precious time this week. The good thing about that is the fact that it brings in money that we really need. Unfortunately it does take me away from the bar. Fortunately the tax deadline is less than a week away. Unfortunately we owe a shitload on our own taxes so I have to finish those within the next 6 days. What a bunch of crap!

Alright turds, all two of you who read this terrible blog of mine, I gotta put the dogs out, do a quick vacuum, and go to the bar. Hard to even find time to clean this house lately. I need more than 24 hours in a day gods damn it. Or I need to clone myself. However, forget I wrote that because I'd be jealous if my clone pretended to be me and slept with my hot wife.

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Friday 5-07-21: Negative account balance and my new Failbook.
The MKBG business checking account currently has a negative $254 balance. What a bunch of crap! There is no more precious... precious money because no money has come in because we had to close for ten days because 1/3 of the team got the 'rona.

^TO CHINA FOR GIVING THE WORLD THE COVID. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

Is the pandemic really China's fault? There seems to be a lot of evidence suggesting a lab in Wuhan, China was the epicenter of the thing at some point in 2019. Manmade virus either let loose on purpose or by accident? Or it came from a bat on the market? All I wanna know is why? Why are bats for sale in China? Or anywhere? Do people eat them? Keep them as pets?

I sneezed again. Twice. I sneeze a lot this time of year because of allergies, but is the 'rona making me sneeze even more? I know not. Probably it's allergies right now because, for the first time in 9 days, I feel mostly okay. Not exhausted like I have been the past few days. I slept a lot earlier so that probably helps. I need to go to the bank to put more precious... precious money into the restaurant bank account. However, my quarantine as mandated by the state CDC does not expire until tomorrow so hopefully Kat can go make the deposit before the bank closes in 2.5 hours. She is done with her quarantine so she is getting the bar ready to reopen tomorrow. How does she get out of quarantine before me? Ask the CDC I say. She got sick before me so I guess that's why she gets her freedom before me.

I had to sign up for Facebook. FUCKIN' FAILBOOK OMG! Of course I used my favorite fake interweb name of all-time, RAMBO. John J. Rambo is my Failbook name and if you don't like it you can gggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttttttttt oooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt! I only signed up for the stupid thing so I can be a part of our Mad Kat staff private page. We have a messenger, and I can post updates. I spent hours, literally hours, working on the ERC so most of the staff could get some extra covid-pay so I needed to update everyone, and that was the easiest way to do so.

Sadly I only had the Failbook for a couple days when I got a BANNED message. WTF I'm not a Trump supporter on there?! (Trump is still banned from social media all these months after he lost to Biden in the election what a bunch of crap!) I had to put in my phone number and beg for mercy then I got this message back:

All I wanna know is why? Why did that happen? Now I still can't even post onto the group employee page until June 5th. What a bunch of crap! I can use the messenger-thingie, though.

I do NOT want to use the Failbook for any other reason than work so don't even try to add me or friend me or whatever. F that crap. Hopefully when we can all go back to work I never even have to use that dumbass site again. It is helpful to have the messenger, but I would prefer to have my old AOL chat thing from 15 years ago. Good ol' AIM hehehe. Even Mom used to message me on AIM in fact I saved a chat or two that she and I had where she raked me right over the coals for being a bad son. Guy looks for that now because why not take a trip down memory lane when I am quarantined on a Friday afternoon?

I didn't find my old chats with Mom, but I did find this hahahaha:

MYSPACE AHAHAHAHA predating Failbook. I never had a MySpace, F that. I might have made a spoof one, but I don't even remember because I am old and have covid brain-fog now.

I wish I wasn't a covid-pussy so I could go for a jog. It's a beautiful day outside so I can at least play with the dogs out back. I don't think they can catch the 'rona from us. Exercise for my ass is not an option yet, not even close, I am too weak. What a bunch of crap! I need to save my strength because it looks like tomorrow evening we can reopen the bar and *hopefully* make a few bucks along the way. If we don't get that place open and making money ASAP then we are finished and broke all at the same time.

I have 7 tax clients on the calendar for next week holy crap. More will call, too. The tax filing deadline is May 17th so I need to file our own taxes. However, I'll probably just do an extension since we are fucked. We're gonna owe way more than we have. I know an extension doesn't extend the due date to pay, but it's better than nothing. Maybe the IRS will show us mercy since we literally had covid and it fucked us all up. Lost work, lost money, pwned. I wanted to file our taxes so we could show more income when I beg the bank for more money, but that is not going to work right now so I quit. Instead we'll try to sell this little piece of land across from Jimmy's:

^It might not sell, I dunno, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Alright turds, all two of you who read this bootleg site of mine, I already cleaned the house and put away the laundry so now I'm gonna go outside to do some things. The side yard is a shit-show so I can clean that. Maybe play with the dogs a bit, too...

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Wednesday 5-05-21: Trying to save the bar and pay the staff.
I've spent quite a bit of precious... precious time researching payroll tax credits from covid. Looks like I found one that works. Maybe? Hopefully! I've had to do my own research because this is what I got from our payroll provider:

"You may qualify for the employer tax credit that you provided the link to. Unfortunately, I’m not able to determine if you qualify, you’d have to determine if you qualify for it. If you qualify, please let me know and I can certainly set this up for you! Once setup, we would take care of tracking and reporting the credits."

Okay great thanks for the not-help, chick. What a bunch of crap! So after hours of reading and research, a post of my tax forum that never got answered, and more reading and research I think as a business we qualify for this:

^From the dept of labor, a pretty reliable source. Maybe? Hopefully!

Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis.

I would say we absolutely qualify for that part of the paid sick leave. We all have to quarantine either because we have the 'rona or because we can't work due to being around people who have it. Sadly the three newer hires we have on the team won't qualify since you have to be employed for at least 30 days.

I reached out to our payroll specialist to get on the same page about all of this since today by lunch I have to submit last week's payroll for checks/direct deposits to be issued on Friday. Not sure how people expecting paper checks are even getting paid? I'm not getting one because I didn't put myself in for any pay this week. Saving the business > getting a paycheck from the business. I have about two hours to finalize all of this. What a bunch of crap!

I'm still not even close to recovering from this covid virus. Neither is Kat. For me it's exhaustion more than anything. I don't have the energy to do much of anything. I slept nearly 10 hours last night, and I feel like I could have gone back to sleep. Yesterday I did stay awake all day, no nap, first time I did that since I got sick. Even now I know I could lie down and go back to sleep, and I've only been up for a couple hours. Epic failer! Just sneezed again a couple more times, although that might be some seasonal allergies so I should go take an allergy pill. It's May, everything outside is starting to bloom, so sneezing is a normal occurrence for me this time of year. Epic fuckin' fail.

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Tuesday 5-04-21: About halfway through the quarantine.
My awesome wife and I are far from awesome so far this week. Having the coronavirus puts the dampers on pretty much everything. We found out we had the 'rona last Thursday, and it was not a shock to find out we had it because we were both sick by the time we had to do our rapid drive-thru test. What a bunch of crap! Since then we've had 5 other staff members and at least 6 of our customers test covid-positive. OMG EPIC OUTBREAK! This is all-bad.

The only good news is we are not dead yet from the highly contageuos virus. Neither Kat nor I have had to go to the hospital; we have been able to rest and recover at home. I ventured out today to get my office mail and work on a couple tax returns that I can prepare remotely, but I wasn't gone too long. I stopped by the closed bar to check on things, and that was depressing. Seeing the place jut sit empty is incredibly sad. It's also incredibly crippling financially, and I'm not so sure we are going to recover from it as a business. We'll try, but it won't be easy. The business officially becomes financially upside-down in a matter of days if I don't put more of our own precious... precious money into the account. Negative cash flow, borderline insolvent, epic fucking fail.

I dunno whether or not I even want to save Mad Kat. Actually I do want to save it, but I dunno if I should. We are about to have a legal battle with our former business partners, and that is going to be costly and ugly. We've had a terrible covid-outbreak, and that is costly and ugly. The only way to save the business is to work a lot. A LOT. That and to procure tens of thousands of additional dollars. I don't have that kind of money anymore since it all went into opening the place so I have options in the works.

I cashed in my IRA last week, but that doesn't have a huge value. A few grand will help, though. I'm working on refinancing the house to get some cash out, and Kat and I own a little piece of land across from Jimmy's and next to the tax office that we can *hopefully* sell. I'd love to convince one of my friends and/or family members to invest some money into the bar, but if the place does fail I'd feel too much like a heel losing other people's money. I don't think the bar will fail because we have a great team there, but one more covid-shutdown probably does kill the place for good.

I hope we can open for business again Saturday. My quarantine ends at 1700 Saturday so I could work that night. Hopefully by then I'm healthy enough to work a full shift. Right now neither Kat nor I are close to 100% so working 8 hours in a fast-paced restaurant would not be easy. I'm not sure I could do it because covid still has me feeling beat up from the feet up. I was gonna do some mowing today and get up on a roof to inspect for damage from a possible fallen branch, but I don't have the juice. Covid made me a pussy. Exercise? No chance in hell. What a bunch of crap!

In conclusion my life is a shit-show right now. Hopefully once Kat and I can heal from the 'rona we can have success in the restaurant and in our lives. Nothing comes easy anymore, that's for sure. Even before I was officially diagnosed with covid-19 last week everything felt like a struggle. I really should close the bar and just give up, but F that I want my wife to have her dream, I want 20 people to still have jobs, and I want my original investment back. I'm not letting that bar go down without a lot more of a fight. We've proven that place can make good money, and that's no small feat for a brand new restaurant.