Wow, long time, no write. Many, many, things have happened since my last entry.1) Finished the next HousingSeek.com housing guide- Phew! Circle and I sent advertising packets and information forms out to ALL the apartment complexes and property management companies in the area (and there are a LOT believe me!).
Then we followed up with all of them and tried to convince them to buy advertising space in our annual full-color housing guide (distributed in "Schooled Magazine"). Fortunately getting advertisers this year was a lot easier than the past years, and the large management companies finally gave us the time of day (and filled out info forms on their multiple properties). I guess our track record from the last 2 years has been good enough to earn us a bit of respect. Un-fortunately, we were only allotted 12 pages (2 less than last year) which made jamming all the extra info (and enough ads to pay for printing and turn a profit) into the small space an especially nightmare-ish graphic design challenge. But, you know me, I'm always up for a challenge.
Making the guide is a fine balance between selling enough ad space, making a guide that's actually useful to students looking for housing in the area, and using a crowbar to fit all of it in as few pages as possible to push our thin profit margins a little wider.
It is a colossal relief to have it finished and sent off to Russ Taylor for printing. I could not have done it without Circle's hours of phone calling, visits, proof-reading, and data entry...she's a super nova among white dwarfs. Now all we have to do is hound our advertisers to pay up on their advertising contracts. ><
2)The BYU Housing Fair-Well, last minute, while still working on the housing guide, we remembered that we bought a booth at the BYU housing fair. So we scrambled for an idea to blow away both the students who would be wandering through the fair scrounging for free food, and all the property owners in the other booths who could, potentially, be advertising with us.Luckily, we had just brought home the final shipment of my high-school stuff from Circle's parents (long story...my mom dropped off all my stuff at her parents when she moved to El-Paso). And what, you ask, was in the last bin that would be good for a housing fair? My Nintendo Power Glove of course. This plugin for the classic NES was the most sought-after Christmas toy of (I'm guessing) 1989. Its illustrious appearance in "The Wizard" (starring Fred Savage), about an idiot savant video-gamer who wins Nintendo's national VG competition, made millions of mouths drool across America.
It's basically a glove that you wear on your hand (imagine that!) which is plugged into your Nintendo controller port and also plugged into a set of sensors that you put on the TV you're playing on. The way it was portrayed on TV and in "The Wizard" was that donning this glove would instantly propel you from "awkward nintendo geek" to "super cool Nintendo master" and you'd have all sorts of new control over your character in every game ever made. Just move your hand in space, and your character instantly responds, make real punching motions in boxing games, and hold a virtual steering wheel in car racing games...it would be virtually....reality...in your LIVING ROOM!
Unfortunately, it was the most over-hyped POS ever made and barely worked once out of the box. If most kids were like me, they ended up wrapping the cord around their arm and wearing the glove while playing laser-tag to give themselved that "cyborg" look and feel.
Anyway, I thought, "hey, what better way to get people to our booth than to hook up my classic NES with the Power Glove, AND show 'The Wizard' next to it!" So, after a night driving to all the Blockbusters and Hollywood videos in Provo and the surrounding areas, I finally find a VHS copy of "The Wizard." Best of all, since it was labeled "kids" I got the rental for FREE! I also hit up a local video game store for 3 classic NES games (3 for the price of 2=20 bucks) Then, through some tricky finagling, I got my hands on 2 27 inch flat screen LCD monitors. Next, we bought some cases of candy bars and headed on up to campus. Picture this: 2 huge LCD monitors on our table, nestled between them is our old-skool Nintendo with the Power Glove hooked in. On one screen is displayed any number of your favorite childhood games, and on the other is playing the Nintendo-sponsored feature film "The Wizard." To top it all off, I wore my "Nintendo Tech Support" shirt which looks like the blue button-up shirts greasy car mechanics wear. With a pile of candy bars up for grabs from passers-by. Needless to say, we got some attention.
Here's an awesome quote from "Lucas" the rich, cocky, video-game ace, and nemesis to Fred Savage in "The Wizard" (somehow he got his hands on a Power Glove before they were even produced commercially). He finishes a particularly intense game of "Rad Racer" using the Power Glove to defeat Fred Savage's idiot savant little brother and says, as he removes the almost steaming glove from his hand: "I love the Power Glove...it's so bad."
3)BuilderHelper-Momentum is picking up with BH. We've got an investment offer on the table that we're trying to negotiate into a better deal for ourselves. Sales are really picking up. And, after much whining, the program is solidifying, thanks, in no small part, to strokes of divine inspiration. We feel like someone upstairs is helping us bumblers to make something good happen. Morale is high since our 2 nervous nellie partners went to the national builder's convention in Florida and saw that our competitors are far from the cutting edge that we're riding. Jon and I have always known it, but it was nice to see them realize that we really are as talented as we brag about.
4)Bella Bambina-Bella is developing SUCH a personality. She's getting to the age where her interactivity makes her fun to play with and even tease a little. We had a, seemingly, long struggle with getting her on a bedtime schedule. But we finally clamped down and decided to be the disciplinarians we weren't being and things have gotten much easier for Circle (now she gets to sleep longer than 4 hours at a time). Amazingly, Bella's behavior overall has improved and she's become more loving as a result of our (mostly Circle's) efforts. The whole experience has started a new cartoon brewing in my head...I'll post it on here when it's done. (won't be for a while I'm sure).Circle took bella to the park the other day. I've included some of the photos here and a video to boot!
Overall...in case you were wondering: Life is good!
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