WAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Okay, now that that’s out of the way. Jeez, where has the time gone? It’s been almost five months since my last posting. So what have I been up to? Well, lots actually…
First, I got into an argument with my boss at my day job, and found myself cut back to being a part-time worker. That wasn’t going to cut the mustard, so I picked up another part time job at my local game store of choice, Armored Gopher Games. This happened somewhere around mid-November.
About the same time, one of the owners of said game store had life blow up in his face, and had to bow out of running the establishment. This left the store with one owner (Squirl) as he bought his partner out.
Right around Christmastime, Squirl approached me about buying into Armored Gopher Games. I was sort of stunned, and took a bit to talk it over with Heather (my wife). After much debating amongst spouses, we agreed to it in principle. I picked up a couple more days there to help take the load off of Squirl. It was kind of pathetic the way he nodded off at the counter. =P
I suppose I should explain the business model for ‘Gopher. At this point in time, Armored Gopher Games is a game club that aspires to be a full-fledged game store. It is run as a hobby. Both Squirl and I have other jobs, so the store is open some weird hours. Many days, one of us will work our day jobs, then turn around, open up the store, and then run it until close (Midnight, every night). It’s a rough kind of existence, but it’s what we love. Right now, the store pays its own bills, including getting new product once a week. Hopefully, business will grow to the point that at least one of us can be supported by the store. We honestly have a LOT of work to do.
In early February, we took the ‘Gopher to its first gaming convention (Winter War). The store has been around for a year, but many people in town had NO idea that we existed, so this was sort of our coming out party. We did well. Sales were good. We even got invited to another convention (Egyptian Campaign). The big payoff though was the exposure we gained. I can already see a slow increase in our sales as more and more folks walk through our door to see what goodies they can spend their coin on.
And on February 21st of this year, money was exchanged and contracts were signed, and I officially became half-owner of the store. It feels good to finally own something (other than a house or a car).
On the gaming front, I’m still playing a fair amount of Warmachine. I still play in a once-a-month Mutants & Masterminds game, and I’m gearing up to restart my Tai’eres (sorry, no link... yet) game in late March or early April. That is, if life gives me enough time to breathe. =)
peace… RHM
