Got Killed!

It's always a good night when the bar does better then you expected.  But damn can it be painful!

Great American Taxi played Hodi's Half Note with Hand Picked Holler last night.  We expected 150 people tops -  we ended up selling out.  My only other bartender on staff was playing a gig so I didn't have anyone to call.  We had two bartenders, one at each bar and we got raped.  The staff, myself and other owner who was bartending did our absolute best did our best but we never stood a chance.  We got raped and there was no saving us.  It went for hours, no breaks, no chance to catch up.  To make things worse the POS and credit card printer at the other bar was fucking up every few minutes.

On the upside, people were incredibly patient and supportive.  Plenty of people told me what a great job I was doing all night and just about everyone knew we were getting our asses kicked and were very understanding and tipped great despite having to wait for their drinks for way too long.  If anyone was at that show and stumbles upon this, thank you very much.  The staff also needs a pat on the back, everyone did as good as they could given the situation.

So we made a lot of money in sales and tips, the music was great, and we live another day.  Life could be worse.

Pushups, breakfast(at 1pm), shower and off to verizon to replace my damn blackberry again, the speakerphone quick working so I can't hear my phone when it rings.  It's always something right?

No Okinawa for me

Back when I thought I might lose the bar I applied for some jobs on Marine Bases in Okinawa working at clubs as either a manager, assistant manager, and bartender.  Got an email told me last night telling me I didn't get the club manager position.  It's bit of a disappointment but probably a good thing I don't think my partners are quite ready to do Hodi's without me yet.

I'm not thinking of getting out of Hodi's, but a job in Okinawa could make life a lot easier.  It'd pay better, Hodi's wouldn't have to pay me, and I'd get a chance to live and work in Japan while I was still young. 

Oh well, like I said it was probably for the best.  I'll keep working on different ways to up my revenue stream. 

It's a great day today, the weather is great, the show went off well last night and we raised $1400 for Haiti, and today will be good too.  My lunch booking meeting just got canceled too maybe I'll do something exciting like crush cans!

Why No One Answers the Phone at Hodi's

The phone rang while I was at the bar today working on some office stuff and I decided I should answer it.  Of course it was someone asking what the ticket price was for the show tomorrow.  It rang 5 minutes later and again I answered it, someone had a booking request.  Both calls were a good reminder why I usually never answer the phone.
 
Now you may think, "Quit being lazy and pick up the damn phone, help people get information."  But any good bar owner knows you spend the least amount of time in the office.  There's just too much to do so I can't be by the phone from 10-5 every day.  Thats why I have an automated message that says to go to the website for contact, show, and booking info, and please don't leave a message we don't check them.  Somehow we still get thousand messages every month with most being "Hey bra' what time does the show start tonight".  I love my customers, I love talking to my customers but please check the website.  Or Scene Magazine, we're there too.  Or the Fort Collins Coloradoan Entertainment guide.



Booking is very similar.  We get tons of emails from bands wanting to book shows.  It's hard enough to get through half of them.  The process of booking a show is bit complicated, you don't just pick up the phone and say sure that day is open go head and take it.  You have to check if the date is available which means hitting up your booking agent, check out who else is playing around town who might compete with you on a given date, and hell if you haven't heard of the band you have to find out if they have any draw and check out there myspace or website to see if they're even any good.  You'd run up a pretty big phone bill and use up a lot of time doing all this by phone.  So be more efficient with time and money we use email whenever possible.

So we still aren't running at peak efficiency, but damn it we try.  Now quit calling and check out our beautiful website at www.hodishalfnote.com for all show, booking, and contact info.  Have a great day

Why Sports Games Are Lame

 

So it's 2:30am, I've got 60 more push ups to do before I've done my 150 and I thought I'd take a break to bitch about sports video games.  I've never really enjoyed them.  There's just something about playing a game when I can go out and play it for real.  Maybe not professionally but I can toss around a football with my friends or shoot some hoops.  Hell I had to quit playing Guitar Hero because it was getting to the point where if I going to play that much I should just learn how to play a real guitar.   When it comes to sports games if I wanted to play a sport, I went out and played it.

Games should allow me to do something I couldn't do otherwise like using my chainsaw gun to cut through monsters or eating mushrooms and getting big so I can go around and jump on slightly retarded turtles that walk on two legs (which to be fair, sounds like an experience you could have eating mushrooms in real life).  

This rant is a bit pointless because right now, I'm way too busy to play games anyway.  I think one of my first blogs was on how long it took to completely beat Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (around 200 hours).  Think of all the cans I could collect!  The money I could make, how much closer I could be to accomplishing my goals if I didn't spend 200 hours a year playing video games.  

It's bit sad because games are a lot of fun.  I got shit to do though!

A day without boozes, soda, or energy drink.  Almost done with my push ups.  Till tomorrow

-Damon

Back to Japanese.

Met with Miho san my old Japanese tuto and studied for an hour Tuesday.  She's been trying to teach her husband a bit and he's studied any Japanese so it was a bit slow.  I didn't mind though, we worked on writing which I use to be fairly good at but apparently have forgotten a good deal.  My writing is also a bit uglier.  Was good to get back into it though.

One of the things that was interesting was that a number of Japanese words I heard training in the dojo, Miho san had never heard before!  I'm not entirely sure if it's because they've been used wrong in the dojo or if the martial arts vernacular is not well known outside of practitioners, even in Japan.

A good example is uke which typically refers to the person receiving the technique.  Miho san hadn't heard of it used as a person but was knew the verb ukeru - to receive. 

Well if it's not complicated, it's not Japanese.  Just look at chop sticks.

Comment On Me!

Hey just a heads up, you can now comment on my blog using your twitter, facebook, google, yahoo, etc accounts.  Just click on where it says "comment" at the bottom of any post and a box will pop up which you can use to log into whichever site you choose and leave me a message telling me how amazingly witty you find my latest post.

Try it out!

Things to do, things to not do

So birthday was fun last night.  Had a keg and some pizzas, fair amount of people showed up at the bar and by the time the keg had kicked the open funk jam we do every Monday had started. 

 

Wasn't too hung over today but I definitely could tell I had a few the night before.  Can't waste any time being hungover or not 100% if I'm going to make everything happen.  So I've got to be healthy to be as productive as possible.  Guess that means no drinking for now.  And while I'm giving up some stuff lets quit the soda too.  I'll make my next project a healthy cheap diet.  

Speaking of being healthy, I did my pushups today.  For time's sake it seems to be easier to do them in 20 minute blocks as opposed to 3 sets of 5 minutes.  Course I can barely raise my hands up to keyboard level.  This should help with the no drinking thing, I don't think I could lift a bottle right now.  

No alcohol, no soda.  Should save me money.  Not a whole lot though, I haven't paid full price for my drinks in a year and half.  One of the perks of owning a bar.  

Another 10-5, 7-3, 15 hour day tomorrow.  Fun Fun

Till next time

-Damon

So You Think You Can Curl, Eh?

Read this article this morning.  Apparently those crazy Canadian curling fans made a huge ruckus and the Danish curler missed her shot.  Quoting the article:

"I could not control the weight on the last shot in the 10th. It should have been way slower, but when there are 6,000 people yelling, it's pretty hard to find out how hard you kick off. It's just so hard to focus. You're trying, but it's just not the same as if it was silent."

Really?  Lets start with the fact that these fans were Canadian.  These people can't be mean.  According to an article from the Denver Post, the worst heckling American Goalie Ryan Miller heard in the days before the Canada - USA game from Canadian fans was "Go Canada."  A Canadian heckler is like a baby holding a beer bottle.  They may be loud, there may be a few drops of alcohol in the bottle but it's all really harmless and actually pretty cute.

Yes, maybe they were loud but lets look at the activity at hand.  It's freaking curling the least challenging sport in the winter Olympics.  Remember when that guy died practicing on the luge?  How'd it feel to be anyone who went after him?  "I'm going to go really, really fast and if I screw up I may be flung over the track and die."  And someone is complaining about not being able to focus while sliding a rock across the ice because the most polite people on the face of the earth are making some noise.

Let's also consider all those other sports that require actual athletic ability.  Ever watch Payton Manning trying to direct traffic before the hike with 60,000 people screaming?  How about after the snap, he's got some huge 300 pound guy coming at him but he has to wait for the perfect moment to throw the ball, knowing full well whether he gets the throw off or not he's going to get creamed.

I guess my big beef is that curling is an Olympic sport.  I don't think any sport you can (and should) play with a beer in your hand should be in the Olympics.  Most Olympic athletes train hard developing near super human strength and skills while eating special diets and sleeping right.  Do you think you really have to hit the gym 7 days a week and count calories to be a win a gold in curling?  I shouldn't be able to look at an Olympic sport and say "eh I could do that if i practiced few times a week."  When I watch Shaun White do a double mctwist I think, "wow I'd break my neck if tried that."

Fortunately there is a way to end all of this curling nonsense.  As with all great evils, there is a source and if it is destroyed, the evil will be vanquished.  I'm of course talking about blowing up Aisla Craig, an island off the coast of Scotland and the only known place in the world to find the super hard granite used in curling stones called blue hone granite.  If we can destroy the supply of this mythical rock, curlers, frustrated with poor quality granite not suitable for sliding over ice will become disenchanted with the "sport" and move on to something else that doesn't require they give up their beer and sausage diet. 

How to sink Aisla Craig into the sea I don't, we're venturing into dangerous territory.  The power of rocks cannot be underestimated.  For more info on rocks, read my blog on the subject here .

It's my birthday, I'm going to drink and who knows maybe work on my curling.  The ground is covered in ice.  Anyone have some blue hone granite?

-Damon

Sore Boobies, Birthdays, and Cans for Japan

So due to being hungover all day I didn't do my pushups till about 15 minutes ago.  It took 20 minutes but I did ten push ups a minute for 15 minutes with a 5 minute break after 10 minutes.  The good news is I can get my push ups done in 20 minutes.  The bad news - it sucks a whole lot.  Oh well getting in shape isn't suppose to be pleasant.  Still having to alternate between wrist and finger push ups as finger push ups are extremely difficult and I feel as though I get a better upper body workout from them.  Wrist push ups still are plenty good and work some different muscles so I'll keep doing them. 

It's now 1:22 am which means I'm officially 26 years old.  Getting old.  A number of people are suprised to know I'm 26, many think I'm older.  Some of have said I act older but I think they're being polite, I must just look bit older.  I guess the bar adds years.  There is such a thing as bar time so maybe by bar time I'm 35.

Speaking of the bar, I've been collecting and recycling cans.

My girlfriend collects cans from her house too.  Few months ago I turned in over 150 pounds of crushed cans.  Unfortunately the going rate was around 35 cents a pound.  I got like 40 bucks.   It's free money though so I'll keep collecting, every little bit helps.  I'll take what I earn and add to the jar I have for change and put that money toward my Japan trip.  I'll also throw in ten dollars every bartending shift I get.  I'd like to go to Japan for 2 weeks minimum and the plane ticket should cost between $1,800 - $2,000, so I'll need a minimum of $3,000 to have a decent trip.  Guessing I'm not going to come close that amount with just cans.  I'll need to find different ways to make more money, but that was the plan all along. 

That's it for now, I've just about finalized a weekly schedule, although I'm sure it'll change as soon as I get into it.

Dances with Wolves is on AMC right.  Dear God, Kevin Costner is a terrible actor.