Here are the pictures. As always, click on the picture for the full size picture.

So, that’s what the store looks like. It’s a couple hundred square feet smaller, but it’s all usable space, we don’t have the bathrooms sticking out in the middle, forcing us to not use a lot of space when it came to big tournaments.

I hope you approve, and I hope you come by and check us out!

The new store shelving (hopefully) comes today, and from now on our product will be put up on shelves, rather than on the floor.

I would like to thank all of the gamers who showed up yesterday and lent their backs and hands to help out. Without them, we couldn’t have made it to this point by last night.

Pictures will come Sunday, so look out for those.

We should get our power today, so once the lights are on, everything will be copacetic. And cooler.

This has been a hard week, and the rest of the week isn’t looking any better. But with a bit of luck, and a lot of help, Gamerz Depot should be open tonight for Magic Constructed.

Come on by and check us out, and if you do show up, be prepared to be put to work!

Gamerz Depot is now located in the Hacks Cross Centre, 4205 Hacks Cross Rd, Suite 104, Memphis, TN 38125. This is on the West side of Hacks Cross, just South of the Bill Morris Parkway/385. We are behind Chow Time, right next to “Nuttin But Wings.” We hope to see you there!

So, we are counting down to the move. There are a lot of things going on that I can’t talk about, but keep your fingers crossed that they all break the right way to make things smooth. I am hoping that the lease on the new space is signed on Tuesday. That gives me Monday to pack up and inventory the store, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to unpack it. If I get the orders I need in for the fixtures I need and delivered by Thursday, I’ll be a happy camper. The bad news is I probably won’t get the order in until Tuesday, and delivered by Friday.

I have to wait until the painters and carpet cleaners to do their thing hopefully on Monday, then cut and hang a bunch of slat board. You see, the space used to house an HR Block office, and one wall is that atrocious green they use.

So, as always, I have a long way to go and not a lot of time to get there. Hopefully I will have some help this time.

I’m also beginning to get suspicious here. Every time I take a week off, I work harder on my days off than I do at my day job. I have got to stop doing this!

The lease for the new Gamerz Depot location is not signed as yet. But I been kept on the edge of my chair for the last three days. Depending on when we can get the numbers together that the new landlord likes, we are talking anywhere between this instant and Monday. The packers are primed for Saturday, the movers are set for Sunday, so this has got to happen soon. I have it set for me to take all of next week off, and I figure it will take that entire time to set up the store to my liking. So, either everything goes off smoothly and I get to work reasonable hours next week, or things get signed late and I work like a madman. Everything is an unknown at this moment, and if there is anything that bugs me more than this kind of situation, I can’t remember what it is. I’m a real detail oriented kind of guy. I live by my Gantt chart.

I am scheduled to see the property this afternoon, so I can start making mental plans on where to put what. The only view I have gotten to see as yet has been through the front windows. I want to see the storage room in the back and the bathroom. I need to step out the size of the bay and see how much of what we need.

I plan on getting all of this done during the day, then opening up in the afternoon and continue working. Now that we have more staff, we plan on opening earlier in the afternoon, hopefully to even catch the lunch crowd at the local eating establishments before or after they have eaten.

We have lots of plans for this new location. As soon as I have the exact address I’ll be sure to post it here and tell everybody I know. If you could do the same when you learn where we landed, I’d greatly appreciate that.

Saturday morning came, and the repairman put a firecracker capacitor on the AC to jumpstart it, but the compressor just sat there. So the repairman declared the AC dead, and drove off.

So, for the Flames of War tournament we all sat there in the heat, sweating all day. I took next to last place. But thats another post.

Sunday, we looked at some locations around the 385/Hacks Cross neighborhood. We found a bay in a small strip mall that used to be an HR Block office. That address seems to have the most consensus.

So, by the end of the month Gamerz Depot will have a new address in Tennessee, and hopefully a lot more traffic. There are several eating establishments in the same parking lot, and a couple of other places where we might be able to cultivate more customers.

So yours truly will be extremely busy in about two weeks tearing down, moving and setting up the store at the new location. We have until the end of the month to set up the new lease and move. Not a lot of time to do things in. But we should be able to get things done by then.

Your taxes are going to go up because the President wants to spread the wealth around. In other words, the government is going to take away what you have earned and give it to someone who hasn’t earned it. You can read the article for the particulars about what the tax rates are going to do, and the return of the Death Tax, and so on.

Why would someone want to take away your hard earned money? Because he thinks you stole it from the poor. Instead of helping to poor with a hand up instead of a hand out, he exercises control over the lowest part of the economic ladder. He cuts the rungs out of the ladder so they can’t advance, thus keeping them on the dole, barely subsisting and dependent on the government for their very existence. The only thing spoon-feeding teaches is the shape of the spoon.

So, by letting the Bush tax cuts expire, our taxes will go up starting January 1, 2011. If you have a rich relative almost dead at the end of the year, you better hope they pass before midnight or their estate will be subject to a 55% death tax on estates over $1 million. If someone leaves a farm to you next year, you’ll have to sell it to pay the tax on the estate bill.

I heard a remark from my Congressman this morning on my way into the store, “Tax cuts should be targeted and temporary.”

Nevermind the facts that when you cut taxes, economic growth goes through the roof. But you see, those in power at the moment don’t want that, except for themselves. They would rather see the economy limp along, nobody getting rich and everybody one step away from economic ruin.

Vote the bastards out this November. That includes both parties. Vote someone new in, someone who understands that the government derives its power from the consent of the governed. Don’t vote for someone who thinks they know better than you.

I dont know how long I can keep this up. Even my beautiful wife was grumbling that she doesnt see me anymore. Hell, *I* dont see me anymore. Im way behind on a lot of things, simply because I spend so much time at the store, plus the day job. Practically all I have is Sunday and Monday evening to do house and family stuff. Not a lot of time left for me.

I think Im going to take some time off from everything. Maybe spend some time painting and going to bed early. I just have to find the time that I can do it. Im a cornerstone at the store, and Im starting to get groomed for stuff at the lodge. Breaking commitments is hard, but I have to start saying no at some point.

Wish me luck.

Well, my beautiful Hawaiian wife asked me if there was such a thing as redneck haiku. Having written a couple some 20+ years ago, I immediately proceeded to assail her with the two that I remembered. After recovering from the initial shock, she asked me to write some more.

Here you go. Enjoy!

Ducks overhead
Shotguns raised on high
Plum blossoms fall

Youre pretty
Six shots, four beers
Its closing time

Wide river rages
Going to jump it on ATV
Hold my beer

Untimely death
Cause was being stupid
Alcohol was involved

No! Stop! Wait!
Overflowing tube top
Thats your cousin

Strippers all night
My money is gone
Lets have breakfast

Between each of the three degrees I was required to learn a recite a lecture describing the degree I had gone through. The third degree lecture was optional, but necessary to visit other Lodges where they don’t know you and no one can vouch for you. These lectures are not written down and must be learned from mouth to ear.

When I received my Master Mason, one of the things I was awarded was a book of the rituals of Freemasonry in Tennessee, each state being different. I have had my nose in this book ever since. Now, after three months, I am ready to tackle a small part of a degree work. Bigger than some, smaller than others. Im memorizing three paragraphs of lecturing, and starting to realize what I have gotten into.

Freemasonry is a men’s fraternity that is united in the belief that there is a Supreme Being. Who that is is up to each person. The brother who sponsored me in is a Pagan, so you can see how open we are.

One thing I have found is that you get out of it what you put into it. Learning the parts of degree work, mentoring those who aren’t Master Masons yet, and just the fellowship gives me an enormous emotional boost after visiting the Lodge. In each of the degrees, I have sworn to many things, mainly to support other Masons wherever I may find them.

If you want to know more, let me know and I’ll see what I can’t do.