CLASSIC HANDYMAN CHARLOTTE DEPLOYMENT

The office location saga continues. I need to find a space for the business. The dilemma is choosing between retail space in a great location and office space in a not-so-great location. I cannot find any precedent to justify placing a handyman business in a retail strip mall. There seem to be a lot of benefits such as:
1. Spillover traffic
2. Proximity to the home center
3. Visibility to potential customers and employees
4. Amenities for employees (neighboring restaurants, etc.)

But the handyman business is a business of taking care of a home's to-do lists. It is more than repair and maintenance of one singular small job. The opportunity is to provide comprehensive home management services, a services portfolio if you will. Also, the nature of the office functions are:
1. Job dispatch center
2. Planning/scheduling center
3. Small workshop
4. Minimal inventory
5. Disposal of removed/replaced items.
6. Personnel interviewing and training

So, the question remains "Is there a tangible benefit from location in a retail strip center?" Also, "What are the drawbacks to location in a strip mall?"

The drawbacks include:
1. Cost ($1500/month)
2. Having to configure space that was set up for a product delivery business.
3. No covered vehicle parking.
4. Problems disposing of waste
5. Possible noise to the neighbors
6. Distractions

CLASSIC HANDYMAN CHARLOTTE

I spent today with a commercial real estate broker checking out properties from uptown to Pineville. Couldn't really find the right combination of facility with good frontage. The best place I found was in a bad part of town where I will get no walk-ins. But it was cheapest ($750) and allowed a sign with frontage on I-77. Still, I think I need some kind of warehouse space in a better part of town. Today I will look down in Pineville near Hebron Road.

JOHN TANNER SPRINT TRIATHLON RESULTS

I did the JT sprint tri as a kind of warmup race before the big one (Blackwater Eagleman) on 6/8/03. My results were not very impressive. Basically, I blew it on all 3 segments, but especially on the run. My run pace was 9:01 although I know it was about 8:36 on the first, flat, mile. So the last two miles were even worse. I probably lost about a good minute getting into my bike shoes, which I had clipped onto my pedals. I actually had to stop after leaving the transition area, unclip, put the shoes on, then clip back in. The swim was crowded and I could never really get into a rhythm because I kept running into bodies. The bike course was hilly and I really felt the pounds I haven't lost yet. All in all it was a mediocre performance at best but I know what I need to work on for Blackwater.

GEMS FROM MASH

"I'm sick of hearing about the wounded. What about all the thousands of wonderful guys who are fighting this war without any of the credit or the glory that always goes to hose lucky few who just happen to get shot." ....Frank Burns

"Frank, it's after six, you can stop being snotty!" Henry Blake

"We all know it's brutal up there at the front, especially those of us at the rear" Frank Burns

"You've gotta understand I'm not working on sick people here. I'm working on hurt young people, with essentially healthy bodies that have been insulted by ammunition." BJ

"I'm a life long Anglophile. England is still the only place I know where any young man can grow up to be the Queen." Hawkeye

"I've got a soft spot for Klinger. He looks a little like my son, and he dresses a lot like my wife." Col. Potter

"I've eaten a river of liver and an ocean of fish! I've eaten so much fish, I'm ready to grow gills! I've eaten so much liver, I can only make love if I'm smothered in bacon and onions" Hawkeye

MY RESPONSE TO "ONE COUNTRY SHOULD NOT GO AGAINST WORLD OPINION AND INVADE ANOTHER ONE"

The ideal situation would be for the world body (UN or whomever succeeds them) to enforce their own resolutions. Then one country will not have to
take matters into their own hands. The reality is that other interests, primarily economics, dictate political policy. That reality is why we will
not intervene in Zimbabwe. The other reality is that dictatorships, as a form of government, actually function well from an economic standpoint.
That is another argument, however.

The so-called "pacifists" are great at identifying dictators around the world. They are great at convening, complaining, and issuing edicts and
sanctions. They are terrible at enforcement. Sanctions do not work because smugglers always find ways around them. I saw a looter driving a brand new
Iraqi Government BMW 730i in Baghdad yesterday. Danke Schoen!

Accusing George Bush of being an idiot may make for good jokes, but be serious. He does not act alone any more than Saddam would. He is the point
man for a circle of advisors and policy-makers that truly set the course for US policy. Bush is more like the CEO of a company. He is the 1st US
President with a business degree (MBA) as opposed to a legal background. He runs the country like a business. He filled the key positions with
competent people (Cheney, Bush, Rice) and trusts them to do what is right. He demands loyalty and professionalism.

The fact that there may not be actual WMD's in Iraq is completely irrelevant. The vision of our leaders is one of a democratic Middle East.
How we get there may be questionable, debatable, or whatever. However, history will be the judge. What he can't ask is for people to try and use
long-term perspectives on this issue. Because the vast majority of people can't conceptualize the big picture. They say things like "It's for oil" or
"It's for revenge" and that is fine. It is pointless to debate such arguments. Some say FDR let Pearl Harbor happen so that the US would
finally get involved with WWII. A decision like that is "bigger than us." I believe that our leaders, inspired by September 11, are doing something
over there that is again "bigger than us" and that history will show it was the right thing to do.

Here are links to lots and lots of war-blogs. Many are from embedded journalists. It is amazing that all of these front-line reports can convey such a full sense of what is going on. This is in contrast to all the filtered network news reports we can only get on TV.CyberJournalist.net: Iraq Conflict Coverage Weblog -- Great Work Gallery

The Marines have opened up the assault on Saddam Airport. They drove down Saddam Blvd, through the Saddam Gates, past Saddam Stadium, turned left at Saddam Memorial Park, and there it was. Saddam, we like ourselves a little bit much don't we?