It's my day off and I'm here in our apartment with the maintenance guy. He is here to fix the windows that don't have a track and hopefully, by the time he leaves, the windows will be able to stay up without MB and I having to wedge objects into place.
It's a grey, somewhat chilly day. The past few have been absolutely gorgeous, and I should know, I've been watching them go past the big windows at the Greenlight Bookstore.
I started work on Thursday morning and have pretty much been working non-stop until today. We've been slaving away with all sorts of things around the store. The floor is installed, but it's pretty much the only thing that is "complete."
So what have we been doing?
Well, for starters, we have a local artisan carpenter building bookcases. The employees (a.k.a. Team Awesome) have been staining and buffing the shelves that will fit into the cases. But also, we are working around a crew of Chinese construction workers, which made for an interesting disaster not long ago.
Day One we spent clearing out our backroom space and carrying in huge shipments of books from Ingram and Random House. I got to drive around Brooklyn with my bosses, picking up a really cool drafting table that serves as our temporary desk, and our computers which now sit upon the table. It was nice to get an idea for driving (and parking) in King's County.
Day Two we didn't have our inventory system set up yet so it was a "get dirty" day in the building's basement. Our staff got to work staining the 207 shelves that will be a part of the cases that the carpenters were installing upstairs. It's a beautiful "Golden Oak" water-based stain that will really bring out the pale wood of the floor. Also, the characteristics of each plank of wood really stand out. Hilarity ensued while three of us were downstairs staining and, even though the super had shut off the water so that the construction team could work on some pipes, all the water that had been sitting in the pipes came flooding out into the store. None of our books got wet (thank the sweet lord), but it was funny because we had no translator between ourselves and the Mandarin crew. It all got cleaned up, and in retrospect, it's better that those types of disasters occur BEFORE the store actually opens.
Meanwhile locals have been strolling past our big windows and poking their heads in. There is a huge amount of community interest, which is great.
Day Three we had the tutorial for our inventory system, Booklog. A lovely bookvendor from uptown taught us all about it. Her bookstore is called Archivia Books (and she mentioned being familiar with a certain Brookline Bookseller, who sells her some inventory).
If you've worked in an indie bookstore before, you're probably familiar with a DOS system, which can be straightforward in the sense that you have to type specific commands to achieve tasks, but also aggravating because sometimes careless managers might squirrel away important information in obscure caches.
Booklog is modern (and similar to the Follett system I worked with) and pretty easy to use, so it's been fun to play around with and interesting to screw up with. For instance, in Booklog, once a Purchase Order is finalized, you cannot change it, which is problematic because it's very easy to accidentally finalize a P.O. (I've done it twice already), of course, now I also know how to fix that problem.
Since Saturday (day three) my co-workers and I, as well as a team of incredible volunteers, have been slaving away at a shipment of 95 cartons from Ingram. We finally finished yesterday evening, having scanned every single book into a P.O. that we will receive once the workers are done with all the wiring and painting. I can't wait 'til I don't have to wear grubby clothes to work and I can get down to some good old fashioned book-selling. And maybe some new-fashioned bookselling, because in the modern world, my bosses have worked out a system where locals can order their books online (an independent amazon, if you will, supported by Ingram).
So now it is my day off and I am enjoying it, blogging for yall, and looking for more lucrative work online. I have a few galleys* that I'm reading, one by a local writer, Michael Greenberg. It's pretty good, and he will be one of our community lenders at the store, so I'm excited to be able to meet him at some point.
Tomorrow, I'll be waiting for a package from home with all my towels and curtains and winter clothes. If I miss the delivery man, I'll be miffed. I missed a package on Saturday, and even though I got to the P.O. 15 minutes early Monday morning, I still had to wait in line for an hour.
That got me thinking about the so-called "DMV" argument, as I realized I was going to be late for my job which does not offer me health care. If the government cannot afford to pay the salaries of enough Postal Workers to keep lines running smoothly and if the government cannot afford to pay the salaries of teachers who are actually enthusiastic about education, who is going to pay for the doctors that earn twice, three, four maybe five times as much as these lowly public servants?
I'm optimistic about change, but at the moment, I think the Greenlight Bookstore has a much better chance than the Health Care reform currently on the table. Meanwhile, I think I'm doing important work, whether or not I have insurance.
*(for those not in the know, galleys are uncorrected proofs that publishing houses throw into shipments to incite the book dealer to order/sell a title that is in line for publication. Who doesn't love advance copies of free books? I also have the new Nick Hornby, and the Brit actually scrawled his John Hancock on the front page!)
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Keep on keeping on
I went camping in the Catskills this weekend, a nice way to bring my first month in New York to a close.
I have at least one job now, and as soon as my shuffle finishes charging, I'll be on my way to pick up the keys to our apartment.
Last Wednesday, AJ and I went to BAM to see Cold Souls a brilliant new movie by Sophie Barthes. It stars Paul Giamatti in a Charlie Kaufmanesque role as Paul Giamatti, struggling with the gravity of his part in Chekov's Uncle Vanya. His soul is troubled, and then he hears about a new service where one can have his soul removed and stored, leaving just enough residue to give the body animation. It was very well written and the cinematography of Russia in the winter gives the film an opportunity for contemplation. On our way home, some of AJ's teacher buds invited her to go camping, and figured they could squeeze one more (yours truly).
It was steaming in New York, but also showing signs of rain. Thursday morning, AJ and I packed light, and I recalled my Girl Scouts motto so I also packed a can opener, plates, bowls, cups, silverware, cans of tuna and a can of black beans. I didn't want to bring too much, because the plan was that five of us would cram into a car with tents and sleeping bags and whatnot. Before we left the apartment I said, "I feel like I should bring jeans and a sweatshirt," but we really weren't sure where we were going, so I didn't. When the whole group met up around 2pm, it hadn't rained yet, but one of the gang looked at AJ and I like we were nuts. She told us to go home get blankets and jeans and sweatshirts, because we were going to the mountains.
We finally were able to leave NY by around 4, and pulled into our campsite about a 1/2 hour from a town called Livingston Manor off route 17 in the dusk. We set up our tents, and Amanda and I worked out sleeping on a single person air mattress, 2 pillows, 1 heavy quilt and 1 10 person tent. In the morning, it was fairly pleasant, but the sky promised rain, and did not intend to break that promise. Luckily, with the huge tent, we were able to have a nice night in the tent playing card games and telling stories around a citronella candle. Unfortunately, it also brought a lot of mud and water into our tent. I slept on a root and woke up when it finally got light. I went for a walk down a muddy foot trail, but it was right by the lake and breathtakingly beautiful.
Later, I went for a swim in the lake right in front of our campsite and felt warm all day, despite the chilly winds and cloud cover. We drove around the area, to different general stores to invest in tarps and rope to make a shelter so that we could have a fire that night.
One lady's general store was particularly fowl. She had chicken, geese, ducks, and roosters. She told us that the wood the supermarket sells in Livingston Manor is actually the worst because it holds so much water, so we bought a bunch of wood from her, and it was true, it was nice and dry and didn't spit sparks out at us.
While we set up the tarp, our Russian neighbors blared Russian techno from their car speakers, but I think it was just so that their young daughter could shake her sillies out. They seemed to be professional campers, they had a nice shelter and they moved in and out with great efficiency.
All in all, even though the weather was foul, everyone got along very well. We could tell our stories and also all sit around enjoying the quiet. I was able to work through a lot without stressing out. The last morning it was gorgeous and sunny, but it was time to face real life.
So, I've set up Gas and Electric in our new place, and MB is taking care of internet. I have to go out to Queens to get the key, but I'll stop by Target and Sleepy's on the way back here. Seeing as how I've just spent 4 nights in a tent with AJ, I'm ready to give her plenty of her own space back, but the apartment isn't quite ready for us to move in. Tomorrow, I'll clean from top to bottom, and hopefully, MB and I will have our beds delivered. I also have a staff meeting at the Greenlight Bookstore, but that should be pleasant and not take too long either.
Then, I'll rest easy.
I have at least one job now, and as soon as my shuffle finishes charging, I'll be on my way to pick up the keys to our apartment.
Last Wednesday, AJ and I went to BAM to see Cold Souls a brilliant new movie by Sophie Barthes. It stars Paul Giamatti in a Charlie Kaufmanesque role as Paul Giamatti, struggling with the gravity of his part in Chekov's Uncle Vanya. His soul is troubled, and then he hears about a new service where one can have his soul removed and stored, leaving just enough residue to give the body animation. It was very well written and the cinematography of Russia in the winter gives the film an opportunity for contemplation. On our way home, some of AJ's teacher buds invited her to go camping, and figured they could squeeze one more (yours truly).
It was steaming in New York, but also showing signs of rain. Thursday morning, AJ and I packed light, and I recalled my Girl Scouts motto so I also packed a can opener, plates, bowls, cups, silverware, cans of tuna and a can of black beans. I didn't want to bring too much, because the plan was that five of us would cram into a car with tents and sleeping bags and whatnot. Before we left the apartment I said, "I feel like I should bring jeans and a sweatshirt," but we really weren't sure where we were going, so I didn't. When the whole group met up around 2pm, it hadn't rained yet, but one of the gang looked at AJ and I like we were nuts. She told us to go home get blankets and jeans and sweatshirts, because we were going to the mountains.
We finally were able to leave NY by around 4, and pulled into our campsite about a 1/2 hour from a town called Livingston Manor off route 17 in the dusk. We set up our tents, and Amanda and I worked out sleeping on a single person air mattress, 2 pillows, 1 heavy quilt and 1 10 person tent. In the morning, it was fairly pleasant, but the sky promised rain, and did not intend to break that promise. Luckily, with the huge tent, we were able to have a nice night in the tent playing card games and telling stories around a citronella candle. Unfortunately, it also brought a lot of mud and water into our tent. I slept on a root and woke up when it finally got light. I went for a walk down a muddy foot trail, but it was right by the lake and breathtakingly beautiful.
Later, I went for a swim in the lake right in front of our campsite and felt warm all day, despite the chilly winds and cloud cover. We drove around the area, to different general stores to invest in tarps and rope to make a shelter so that we could have a fire that night.
One lady's general store was particularly fowl. She had chicken, geese, ducks, and roosters. She told us that the wood the supermarket sells in Livingston Manor is actually the worst because it holds so much water, so we bought a bunch of wood from her, and it was true, it was nice and dry and didn't spit sparks out at us.
While we set up the tarp, our Russian neighbors blared Russian techno from their car speakers, but I think it was just so that their young daughter could shake her sillies out. They seemed to be professional campers, they had a nice shelter and they moved in and out with great efficiency.
All in all, even though the weather was foul, everyone got along very well. We could tell our stories and also all sit around enjoying the quiet. I was able to work through a lot without stressing out. The last morning it was gorgeous and sunny, but it was time to face real life.
So, I've set up Gas and Electric in our new place, and MB is taking care of internet. I have to go out to Queens to get the key, but I'll stop by Target and Sleepy's on the way back here. Seeing as how I've just spent 4 nights in a tent with AJ, I'm ready to give her plenty of her own space back, but the apartment isn't quite ready for us to move in. Tomorrow, I'll clean from top to bottom, and hopefully, MB and I will have our beds delivered. I also have a staff meeting at the Greenlight Bookstore, but that should be pleasant and not take too long either.
Then, I'll rest easy.
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