Tot's Thoughts: September 2008

So, I belong to a very elite group known as the Literary Society of Oberlin Road. Others call this a “book club”, but we are above that. We are a literary society. Anyway, the group is comprised of me and three co-workers—Beth, Christine, and Leigh. Leigh and Christine were the two founding members and as such, Leigh appointed herself as president and Christine as VP. I can’t remember Beth’s title, but as I am always the one who is behind, they dubbed me “jackass”. (This is in reference to the card game in which the loser has to serve the winner—the “king”—and is basically the scum. In fact, in Utah we called it “scum”, not “jackass”.)

Well, the other day we had a bit of a ruckus take place within this prized group. Christine beat Leigh at finishing the book, so she decided she would be President and announced this via email earlier in the week. Leigh did not take too kindly to this and pretty soon we were all embroiled in a literary society riot via email. Though much was left unsettled, I do believe I’ve vacated the position of Jackass and am now a VP. This is how it went down. (I’ll abbreviate names by using first initial.) I should preface this by also saying that what started this is that our meeting date of the 22nd had to be changed, but all of this scheduling adjustment took place while I was gone on Friday. I came back to a dozen emails discussing all of this. And that, dear friends, is where we shall pick up the events that lead to my promotion…

K: Wow—I missed a whole convo. I am fine with the 29th, though I did finish the book last night anyway. Go me! :)

L: I finished the book, too! 4 hours before Kade did… :) [and, she did…I finished at 2:30 a.m.; Leigh finished at 10:30 pm.]

K: Still doesn’t save your presidency.

C: Nice Kade, I mean Vice President!! :)

K: That’s right! VP Kade. Go me! How quickly I have risen up from the rubble of jackassdom…Leigh’s new residence.

B: Ok ok. This has gotten out of hand. Don't you have to have 100% of the vote when there is an impeachment? So...looks like I'm that swing vote. Hmmm, I'll be open to bribes at this time.

L: I don’t see any type of impeachment going on. Seems like he’s appointing himself VP so that obviously still leaves me as President, right?

K: You missed that Christine appointed herself President, thus opening her VP spot (which I now fill), thus opening my spot (which you now fill). The cycle of life…and book clubs.

L: Okay, whomever can name the town where Sonia and Cameron grew up first gets to be President…

[she immediately replies with the answer]

C: Wow, Leigh. I kind of feel bad for you right now…

Not going down without a fight, huh?

Dear diary,

I am feeling a little sad right now because I have been usurped by the book club.

K: And not going down very graciously or with much dignity, I might add. :)

L:

Dear Diary,

I am feeling great today! There was a mild ruckus over the Presidency of Book Club but I am victorious! Its so funny b/c they seem to think there is another option other than me as the President but I’m not worried at all. I mean really, like anyone else is even remotely qualified. I have started to doubt whether the others even read the books…I think I saw a “Cliff Notes” version hanging out of Christine’s purse the other day. Anyway, it sure does feel great to be me for another day! TTYL, dear diary.

Leigh

K:

Dear Journal,

Today was an interesting day…perhaps “bittersweet” would best describe it. It was first sweet, in that I secured my new position as VP of the illustrious book club to which I belong. The hours of hard work in proving my dedication and ability really paid off on this one! I wonder if I get a reserved parking space? Note to self: check on this during next meeting.

The bitter—nay, sad—part of it all is that the club’s former president, upon being ousted, clearly got delusional and had a very public nervous breakdown via email. How I feel for her; it must be rough to be so troubled and in such a public arena, let alone to have it documented forever in the annals of email. I’m always torn at these junctures. Do I remain friends with the crazies in hopes that my friendship will somehow help them through? Or, should I save myself from hours of listening to a whole heap of blah blah blah poor crazy me crap and just cut ties? It’s so perplexing. While I decide this, I must be sure to try to treat said member the same I always have—while hiding my stares and shock over her current state, discreetly discussing the matter with other club members in a way that will keep her thinking we’re not concerned or suspicious over her newly revealed lunatic status.

It is tough to be me. Well, kind journal, as always, thanks for listening. I value your support and insight and will report back soon.

Remaining only yours,
Kade

C: I have been crying with laughter over here all morning. I wonder if my cubbies think I even work anymore….

K: Perhaps it’s not just the ousted president about whom we should worry. Is this normal? Does this insanity come with the office of presidency? If so, I don’t think I want it.

And I don’t. I have enough issues without adding more insanity. So, instead, I shall remain VP and enjoy my promotion while poor Leigh is relegated to that of being Jackass. How she struggles. :)

After several months, hundreds of hours, and a good chunk of money, I was ready for the Raleigh Wide Open III, taking place downtown September 5-6. It was supposed to be two days of events (combined with the grand opening of the new Raleigh Convention Center), with an anticipated 100,000-125,000 people in attendance. I had been fortunate enough to have my application accepted--without being waitlisted even!--and was really looking forward to it all. The week before, I was on track to have everything done in time (which included me staying up until 3 and 4 in the morning each night for several weeks to accomplish this). I thought at the time, "the only thing that can screw this up is the weather. Watch...a hurricane will hit." Well, I should've just kept my big fat mouth and brain shut, as that forecast was more accurate than most weathermen ever are.

As Hurricane Hanna hit Haiti and there was talk that it might ultimately move to the Carolinas, there was also talk that it could easily disipate and all would be well. As the week moved on and it was clear that it was headed for Raleigh, I figured the event would be postponed. I was really hoping it would be postponed, actually, as the turnout would be low, the weather a mess, and the whole event would just be so much better if it weren't in the middle of a hurricane. Unfortunately, Raleigh City officials and event organizers did not bother to think the same thing, so as of Thursday morning, it was decided that the event would move forward--despite weather tracking showing that the storm would hit right in the middle of the event. As I had paid my non-refundable $275 entry fee, in addition to the $1000+ spent on inventory, I couldn't afford to back out. So, I made extra preparations, which included buying large bricks to put under all of my boxes to get them off the ground and out of any rain water and buying canopy weights that I then filled with 200 lbs. of sand, in an attempt to make sure the winds would not cause my tent to move.

On Thursday, September 4th, my friend, Justin, and I went downtown late that evening to set up the booth during the early set-up hours. They had forgotten to clear the street of illegally parked cars earlier in the day, so there was a two-hour delay, since they had to literally tow every single car off of the street. We waited this out and got it all set up--noting that it was already getting really windy. The next day, I was there bright and early to get the inventory set out and organized. It took about four hours to do so, as there was so much more than I normally have and the space was pretty confined--and the wind was awful, slowing me down tremendously. Throughout the day, there was wind and rain--and then it got progressively worse. At one point, one of the tent walls was hit so hard with the wind that it bowed inwards, knocking two towers of toys on to the ground (despite having bricks on them to weigh them down). This damaged about $150 in inventory that was now wet and dirty from landing on the ground. I was not happy about it, but I couldn't think too much about it, as I was busy trying to re-arrange the booth so that it wouldn't happen again. The wind was coming in from the north, so I made sure I moved almost everything off of the table by the north tent wall. Then, the rain started to get worse and my sand-filled weights only served to hold the water from flowing down the gutter and instead, right into my tent. I tried to re-route the water with bricks, but this only made it worse. So, I abandoned that and just started stacking boxes on the tables to try to get them up and out of the rising water.

This seemed to work and it got me through the evening, but my booth was not looking too hot at this point. Rain had blown in through the front of the tent, getting a lot of inventory wet and also getting water in the dyed willow baskets. The dye from the baskets was brown and got all over the scarves I had in them, in addition to staining the white tablecloths on both tables. Needless to say, it was a very stressful day with very few sales. Two fun things were when Arrested Development and Chuck Berry each played on the stage next to my booth. I was able to stand at the front of my booth and watch them. Chuck Berry in particular was very cool to hear in person. Also during the slow times, I re-drew the advertising on my chalkboard/dry erase board, as my previous designs had washed off earlier in the day.

By the time I left on Friday night, I had a good amount of damaged inventory, a cramped booth that was looking pretty ghetto, and my nerves and back were shot. I was in so much pain. But, I figured that once the worst of the storm had passed on Saturday morning, I would be able to re-do the booth and had some ideas as to how to fix it appearance-wise without having to buy new tablecloths, etc. Before I left on Friday night, I made sure all of the walls were secured, the weights were all in place, and I moved the tables and inventory to the center of the tent so that the bowing walls wouldn't knock anything down. All of the cardboard boxes were on top of the tables and everything was about as secure as it could be, given the circumstances.

On Saturday morning, I went to the show at the last possible minute so that I could actually get a little sleep AND not have to deal with the weather mess for any more time than already necessary. The show was supposed to resume at 11, so I planned on being there around 10:30 to re-adjust the tables and inventory, etc. At 10:00, I was just finishing breakfast when my roommate called. He said, "Are you at your booth?" I said, "No, I'm still at home. I'm about to head there, why?" He said, "Well, you might want to get going because they just said on the news that there is a dog apparel booth whose tent has blown over and the inventory is getting wet." (Later, I found out he'd seen the actual footage of my booth that the news kept playing over and over, but he didn't want to tell me the extent of the damage so that I wouldn't freak out before driving there.)

I hung up from speaking with him and called the event organizer, Mary Pat, who did not answer her phone. Since I couldn't get an exact account of what was going on, I figured I'd better take garbage bags just in case there was any significant amount of wet inventory. I hydroplaned on into the city, the wind blowing like crazy and water everywhere. I first drove by the street where the festival was being held, because we technically weren't allowed to drive to our booth until after the show closed on Saturday night. As I was passing the street and heading to the parking garage, I glanced down the road to see that there was a tremendous deal of damage to most of the booths. I circled around the block and decided to drive down the street despite the rules. Besides, all of the barricades had blown over anyway, so I wasn't actually moving it all myself.

Once I started down the road, I figured my booth was probably a little more damaged than what Erik had let on. Tent after tent was tipped over and one booth in particular was really badly damaged--their painted wooden lawn signs were all tipped over, broken, and drenched. I got down to the block where my booth was and my jaw hit the ground. What I had envisioned to be a tipped over tent and tables standing there getting wet was not at all my reality. A police officer stopped me right as I got to it and asked where I was going. I pointed at what was left of my booth and he said, "Oh, you own the mess? I'm sorry. Good luck!" And it was exactly that...a mess. It was the most destroyed of the booths and by destroyed, I mean completely unrecognizable, other than for the plush toys and clothes that were floating in the inches of standing water from one side of the street to the other. In fact, one box had literally been picked up by the wind, carried across the street and sidewalk, and slammed into the side of the Sheraton. There was inventory everywhere--including down in the storm drain.

I didn't even know where to start. The wind was blowing like crazy, the rain was soaking me, and all I had was the box of garbage bags. So, I decided I'd first bag up the various items and then start dealing with untangling the displays and crumpled tent. I removed the one tent wall that was acting the most like a sail and still moving the tent while I was in the middle of it. It was a bit scary, as it was moving this metal despite the 200 lbs of sand still attached. While I was working on this, Mary Pat (the event organizer) called me back and asked if I was at my booth and wondered if anything got wet. I said, "You could say that, Mary Pat." She said, "Well, we're hoping to resume the show at 1 o'clock. Do you think you'll be up and running again by then?" I had to explain to her that everything was destroyed, including my tent, and that I was there bagging it all up in garbage bags. She said they'd not cash my $275 check and would see what the city would do to help me out too. We'll see. I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Anyway, I looked across the street to see that a huge amount of event staff and hotel workers were standing behind the windows and doors at the hotel, just watching me deal with all of this. It was really rude. Eventually, a random older man was walking down the street and came up to help me. We were making progress and chatting, when a team of about a dozen event staff showed up to get the tent canopy and walls removed to prevent it from moving further. Then, about a half dozen of them stayed to help me bag it all up and get it in the back of the truck. In the middle of it all, the older man (John), disappeared without saying a word. I would've liked to have thanked him, despite having told him thank you while we were cleaning. I hope he knows how much I really appreciate his generosity, as for a while, he was the only one helping while others looked on. Oh, in one really odd moment while the whole group of people were there helping to clean up, a guy came up and asked us for a pen, as he was talking to someone and needed to write something down. It was totally out of place and odd. I was pissed. I flippantly said, "somewhere in this mess is a pen. If you can find it, it's yours." He thought I was serious and headed in to look for it. To make it even crazier, I looked over to see a pen floating in the middle of the booth space. I pointed it out to him and told him he could have it. When he left, I said to one of the ladies helping bag stuff, "Who the hell asks someone for a pen when it's clear that something is wrong?!" She said she had thought the same thing.

Anyway, once I got everything loaded (sans the tent frame, which was too mangled to ever use again), I headed home. I wasn't planning on touching any of it for the rest of the day because I was so upset. But, as I was lying on the couch moping and feeling like crap (I've had a really bad cold for a few weeks now...I guess I'd better go get seen this next week), I decided that the humidity would probably ruin any salvagable items quickly, so I headed outside and started going through it all. I stood at the back of the truck and used the tailgate as my table. I went through bag after bag and sorted it all into three groups--the pile I knew I'd need to chuck as it was too ruined to attempt to save, the pile that may be okay once I wash them, and then the pile that was just fine for the most part. There was one small box of completely fine items. And dozens of bags of not-so-fine items. It was really sad. I took the few Tupperware boxes, along with the tables, back to my storage unit. Fortunately, I had put most of my t-shirt inventory into my stacked Tupperware drawers before leaving on Friday night, so it was mostly spared. I thought it was totally spared until I got to the storage unit and realized the bottom drawer had a couple of quarts of water in it (incidentally, as I didn't have any towels with me, I had to open a dog bath towel from inventory and it worked quite nicely--if you need a superabsorbent towel, I highly recommend this: http://www.doggy-toys.com/product_info.php?cPath=34_52&products_id=504). I also had water in my cash box (no cash in it--just coins and blank credit card receipts) and so I had a bunch more to clean up. About 10 shirts ended up being wet, but not dirty. Considering my t-shirts were a $3000 investment, I was beyond grateful that most were spared.

So, today I am headed to the laundromat with my piles and piles and piles of dog clothes, in hopes that I can salvage most of it to where I can sell it for super-cheap at the flea market this weekend. I am out a lot of money in lost inventory, but I'm hoping to at least get some money out of it. The other sucky part is that I was counting on having a bunch of this inventory for the show I have coming up in three weeks. But, that clearly isn't going to happen, so once I assess the situation further, I'll know what I need to order in for the show and can go from there.

Anyway, that is the loooooooonnnnng and the short of how I came to loathe good ol' Hurricane Hanna. She is a hosebeast, in my book. I do not heart her in the least. However, I am beyond grateful that it was only "stuff" that was ruined. Had the storm hit during show hours, I would've been in the booth and would've either been killed or seriously injured--not to mention that customers could've been there too. Though I'm upset about the loss--especially after investing so much into it time, money, and effort-wise, I still know that it could have been worse. Besides that, it gives me a chance to step back and look at how I want to next proceed. I have two more weeks of flea market this month and then will be closed until November, so I may wait a little bit before running out to buy a new tent, etc. We'll see.

In the meantime, here are some pictures for your perusal that will show you what the booth looked like before and after beastly Hanna came for a visit...

Before it all got ruined:

A straight-on shot of the booth. I was happy with how it turned out, other than that there was an oil slick on the asphalt and the tablecloths aren't long enough to cover the boxes underneath. (I had already planned to get ones made that would be light blue and go to the ground, so now that my white ones are stained and ruined anyway, it's more reason to move forward with getting that done.)

This is one corner of my toy display. Notice the gray brick on the base of the toy tower. I eventually had to put two bricks on each tower base and even that didn't hold them down once Hanna hit.

My treat section. I had just picked up the treats that are in the Chinese take-out boxes, the paper bags, and the little Halloween bags at the front of the table. Almost all of it was lost.