February 11, 2009
The store’s website is down….which means email is not getting to me either…..and I’m having trouble getting a hold of my webhosting provider. Very frustrating!
I will get the site back up as soon as possible, but in the meantime if you need to reach me by email send it to dreamchaserbooks@shaw.ca. I’ll also be updating the blog with events and news.
January 19, 2009
Over the last few days I have had some very odd things happen. It all started on January 13th, last Tuesday.
There are two blogs that I read everyday: Joseph Mallozzi’s and John Scalzi’s. Both are writers; Joe for Stargate and John, science fiction novels. Joe lives in Vancouver. John lives in Ohio. So, on Tuesday I was checking in with Joe’s blog and the first line says that he’s meeting John for dinner. Wait a minute! John Scalzi is in Vancouver….cool! I then go to John’s blog where he has posted a picture he took from his hotel room of downtown Vancouver asking his readers to guess where he was. As I was reading the guesses that had been made so far, my phone rings. I glance at my call display and it’s says: 234-567-8900, and is from Ohio. First of all that is a pretty odd phone number….but for it to come in while I’m reading the blog of one of my favourite authors who lives in Ohio but was in Vancouver at the moment, seemed a bit spooky!
Then yesterday (Sunday), I was out running errands. I always glance at license plates and the very first one I noticed had the letters “das”. Well, das is a major commenter on Joe’s blog…and one who’s comments I always enjoy….so of course I immediately thought of her. Then a few blocks later the car in front of me has a vanity plate “wolfmn”. I did a double take on it because another commenter from Joe’s blog is wolfenm…..my online world seems to be colliding with the real world!
Then today, I was working on my laptop. As I was opening a new Word document, I was thinking ‘gotta remember to change this to landscape’. Once it was open, it was landscape…..they always open in portrait, except for that one! Every other new one after that was portrait…..it was a bit spooky again!
Can’t wait to see what’s next!
January 16, 2009
I finished taking the inventory! If I had any energy left, I’d do a little happy dance 
Instead I think I’ll just take the rest of the day off, and surf around on the net until closing time.
Hope everyone else had a productive week….and have a good weekend!
September 19, 2008
In the last store newsletter, I promoted the blog and said I hoped in September to have daily posts….good thing I also said ‘no promises’! It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say. I’ve just been so busy catching up on paperwork, planning my fall buying/meeting with sales reps, finalizing the events schedule, and oh yeah, serving customers, that the end of the day keeps coming long before the end of the work.
The catching up on paperwork is partly my own fault. Through the summer months, it is so hard to go sit in the backroom, which has no windows, and do my bookkeeping. If I can’t be out in the sun, I like to at least see it. I say partly my own fault, because I am always behind on paperwork to some degree as it generally has the lowest priority on my daily list of things to do ….not because I don’t like doing it (I actually enjoy bookkeeping & accounting…I know, weird!) but because it truly is the low item on the priority totem pole. I just didn’t realize just how far behind on it I was though. But that pile is now shrinking as I devoted a couple days to it last week and a couple more this week.
Probably the most exciting thing I’ve done so far this month was drop off the renovation plans at Coquitlam City Hall and apply for the building permit. Another step towards the ‘new’ DreamChaser Books!
I’ve also been talking to readers, and have 3 new ones to substitute while Beverleigh is off….Sabrina, Peggy and Ondrea. More on them in an upcoming post….but there are very brief bios in the News section at my website.
And that’s about it…..I do believe that catches up the news for this month!
August 20, 2008
It’s going to look like I did nothing but write posts today….not true! Most of them were started, even finished, but not proof-read, spell-checked, all that editing type stuff….or they just needed that last little bit more to make them complete. But I will admit that working on the blog is a “productive procrastination” ploy…..I should be doing paperwork; I should be working on the website to get confirmed events up; I should be confirming those last few events…..but…..
After a month of working on the fall schedule, I just don’t want to see it today! Which then also rules out website updates. And it’s one of those days where I know I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the paperwork, which would result in errors, which would result in even more work.
What I feel like doing is curling up with a good book….and hey look! I got a shipment in yesterday and added 5 to my list….so, maybe just for an hour. I do need to read them so I can make recommendations <wink, wink> More productive procrastination
August 9, 2008
WooHoo! Hit 100 views! Okay, so compared to some sites that’s nothing, but, I’m new at this! And I haven’t really promoted it yet, so I say 100 in a month is great!
Plus…Spambots have found me! Yipee! I’m starting to get hit with spam comments….guess that means it’s officially out there in the internet ether.
Okay….enough silliness, time to get back to work.
August 6, 2008
I live with a cat. Her name is Reno. She is one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever had the pleasure to be owned by….but still aloof (she is a cat, after all!) She’s also a klutz and scared of her own shadow. I have never heard her hiss. I’ve never seen her puff her fur to look intimidating. I’ve never heard her growl. She is 15 years old, and I’ve been owned by her for 14years and 3 months.
Well, this morning, I’m reading my usual line-up of blogs & websites as I eat my breakfast. I hear a thump on the deck. I wander over, munching my toast, to take a look and see…..nothing. So, I figure it was another crow recovering the cherry it stole from my neighbours tree and then dropped on my deck….happens alot this time of year. Back to my reading I go. Reno stops by for a quick thank-you leg rub for the wonderful breakfast she’d just inhaled and heads over to her favourite sunning/bathing spot in front of the sliding-glass door out to the deck.
I’m expecting a complaint ‘mrwewp’ over the fact that I’ve closed the screen door, but instead I hear a hiss. A hiss!?! from Reno?!? I jump up and see her all puffed up, and now growling….what the….?!?! Who’s taken possesion of my cat! 
To give you a bit more context….this is the cat that ran as fast as possible, with her belly as low as possible from a chickadee that flew in one day. The same cat, that let out pitiful howls of terror when two Stellar Jays ‘trapped’ her on the deck by sitting on the railing, one at each end, and needed me to ’save’ her…..and here she was all puffed out, standing up, hissing and growling! Granted, she had a screen door between her and whatever meanancing thing this was out on the deck, so that may have given her some false courage.
What was out there? Another cat! Still not sure where it came from, or how exactly it got on the deck (this deck has no stairs, so no ground access)….and it was cowering at the far wall, seemingly terrified of Reno.
I reached to open the screen, figuring that Reno would bolt the other way, but no….she’s right there, ready to charge. So I grab Reno, taking her into the living room so I can go out and get the other cat without having to break up a fight. As I’m coming back, I hear scrambling claws, mournful howls….what is going on now! And where is the other cat! I can’t see him anywhere.
Just as step out onto the deck, Reno is back, trying to force her way out….I push her back in as I close the door….catching a whisker or two, I think. I turn to look for the other cat, thinking it’s crawled under my lounge chair….but no! It’s hanging of the edge of the deck about to fall. I’m only able to take one step before he falls…into the ornamental tree just off to the side of my deck. He slides through the tree, and hits the ground, running at top speed.
He stops two yards over and looks back at me with that accusing look that only a cat can give that it was my fault he made such an undignified exit from the deck….and then he takes off at full speed.
As I go back inside, Reno insists on going out, so I let her. Once she’s determined that her deck/territory is all clear, she comes back and tells me all about how she stood up to that interloper….she’s a very chatty cat 
…..and that some treats are in order for how bravely she protected me. Good try, sweetheart…..I’m not buying!
August 6, 2008
It’s been an odd week.
First, on Tuesday, I went to pick up a parcel for the store. Now, for as long as the store has been open, parcels have gone to the postal outlet at Coquitlam Centre. So, I of course automatically went there to pick it up. After the usual 10-15 minutes of waiting in line, I get to the counter only to be told that my parcel isn’t there….it’s at Westwood 7-11. To which I respond, “Where the heck is that?” Of course, the clerk didn’t know, though he very (un)helpfully circled their phone number on the card for me.
So, back in the car, I reach for my cell-phone to call them and get directions….no cell-phone! Crap! I left it at home on the charger. Oh, well, the address on the card is Panarama Drive and I know where that is, so I should be able to find it. Leave the mall, get onto Pinetree, start climbing the mountain….up, up, up…right to the end of Pinetree. I know Panarama isn’t this high up, but how did I miss it! Still feeling cocky about knowing where I am, and where I’m going, I refuse to get my map book out and carry on back down the mountain on some street….and finally find Panarama. Yeah! But which way to turn…left or right? I choose left and cruise along looking for the 7-11. Check the street names at an intesection and discover that I’m no longer on Panarama….What?!? I didn’t turn anywhere! That’s it, I pull over and get the map book out. So much for knowing Coquitlam! Find out that Panarama turns into Mountain something (which also explains why I didn’t see it when I was on Pinetree), so turn around and head back the way I came. And FINALLY find the 7-11….about two blocks to the right of where I’d turned left!
I get the parcel….I was hoping it was shipment of jewellery, turned out to just be publisher catalogues….and then have to figure out how to get down off the mountain. This time I checked the map book before leaving the parking lot! Was then home in about 5 minutes…..but the whole adventure took over an hour for what should have been a 10-15 minute stop.
Then on Thursday, when I went to leave home to come in to the store, I discovered that the house down the street was getting cement delivered, and my lane was completely blocked by the cement truck. No way out! They were moving the cement a wheelbarrow at a time to the front of the house….looked like I wasn’t going anywhere for awhile. So, pulled out my book and sat in the car in my driveway reading until they finished up….about a half hour later. Got the store open by 11:30 so not too bad after all. But you think they could have warned their neighbours! I wasn’t the only one stuck waiting. A quick note in the mailbox would have been nice.
Then on Saturday…….my neighbour’s alarm clock woke me up at 6:30am. But after that the rest of the day went okay, so I guess the frustrating things are done for now!
UPDATE – guess they weren’t as I just discovered (on Wednesday) I didn’t post this one on Saturday. Oh well…..
August 1, 2008
What happened to July?
I’m not ready for August. I still have things from June to do! 
July 31, 2008
Well, I finished analyzing the survey results…..thanks so much again to everyone who took the time to fill it out. The few of you awaiting your coupons….I’m hoping to have them out by the end of this week. But if you wish to come in before you receive it, just mention it to me and I’ll honour it.
There was no change in the top 3 interest areas or best times to attend a workshop once all results were in (Meditation, Psychic Skills, Intuition; Mon – Thurs evenings, Sat afternoon, Sunday afternoon) and I’m working on finding ways to fulfill those wishes. It’ll be more difficult this fall with Beverleigh on maternity leave, but I’ve got some ideas in the works.
What I found really interesting were the suggestions and comments….. interesting in both a good way, as well as frustrating/annoying way. The good interesting was the fact that classes I’ve been thinking of offering, were being asked for so I’ll schedule as many of them as I can. There also were some topics suggested that I hadn’t considered…..those will take a bit longer to offer as I need to find teachers!
There were a few requests for more drop-in classes (no specific topic, just drop-in). This was frustrating/annoying because I stopped offering drop-in Meditation as well as drop-in Psychic Skills because NObody was dropping in. It got a little disheartening to regularly set up the room, have the instructor drive out here, and wait, and wait, and wait, decide that no one is going to show, then re-set the room for readings, and finally after 9+ hours of being at the store, go home. After a couple months of this, I decided that all courses require pre-registration and if the minimum number isn’t met by noon on the day before, the class is cancelled.
Same with the requests for Drumming classes or circles…..kept offering, people weren’t signing up, stopped offering. Now that I have a neighbour that is open into the evenings, I’m not sure if I can offer drumming again because I think it would be too annoying to the restaurant patrons next door. And, I’m not convinced we’d get enough of a turn out even if I did find a way to offer them. Drumming has always been high on the request list, but very low on attendance.
Overall though, I appreciated everyone’s comments and suggestions and will encorporate as many as possible. The Fall Event Calendar is up on the website now with what is confirmed so far…..I’m planning on updating it weekly as more classes are set.
