It's going to be wild

This fair bodes to be a wild one. First, and foremost, we have an almost new staff. Of 22 employees only six have worked for us before. Second, the new fair management has seen fit to rearrange the layout. This means that the traffic pattern will change and, most importantly for us, it means that our competitors may have been placed in front of us. The only thing we still have going for us is that our product is unique. We sell fresh fruit and all natural smoothies to which we have added a whole line of chocolate dipped products. Oh well, at least the set up is done almost. And we are experienced at this. But on the other hand, as we've gotten older we have grown to like the idea of managing rather than working the fair.

Today, by the way, is the fourth day of my use of the fair as a way to diet and exercise. Volumetrics. Lets see how its gone. I started out with weighing myself. 201 at 5'11''. We have been working every day, lifting, sweating, and putting in 10 hour days. Unfortunately, the eating plan has been sketchy. Since we're busy setting up, someone usually just runs to a fast food place and then we scarf down whatever we've ordered and get back to work. Then there are the old friend's meals. Since we only see these people once a year, we usually spend our evenings with one group or another eating a big meal and drinking a lot of iced tea. So four days in and I'm at 200 lbs. But no worries mate, at least I'm thinking about it.

And on another tack, there have been some more interesting developments in the real estate purchase we are pursuing. As everyone knows the lending market is in the throes of resizing itself. What this means is that the loan offers keep coming but the guarantees are less valuable. Almost every thing the lender promised at the beginning of this process has been restated to the lenders advantage. The lock-in rate is really not locked because our finances have to be verified at least twice. It seems that we will need extra insurance even though we are putting 20% down and the rental property we are buying is for sale way under appraised market value. And now that the wheels of the deal are moving, we are fair bound and less willing to spend extra time renegotiating what we thought was a done deal. I keep saying we've done our part and now lets let escrow do theirs but T is a worrier so I have to let her. Oh well.