WAIT - AFTER GOD SAID "LET THERE BE LIGHT"

Wasn't it after the whole creation events, and God making the day light and the night dark, then he decided to do the whole flood thing, right? Because I think it wasn't too long ago when I got my electricity turned on, and then it started raining, and then the roof, not having been fixed, decided to collapse the ceiling in on me, and now the carpenters are going to have to replace the ceiling, and a whole side of my building's drywall panels.

Not to mention, yesterday when I went to the bank, the banker said I could just give him my social security number and then when I called today to let him know my federal tax ID number, he said I would have to close the old account and start a whole new account, AFTER I HAD ALREADY STARTED WRITING CHECKS ON THE OTHER ACCOUNT! So now I got that stuff straightened out. The fire suppression system we had in the building is now in need of not recharging or repairing, but replacing, which is another $2,000.

The good news is I got my insurance policy in place. And that was a good thing, because despite it being another $2,400, it was finally there to protect me from any more damage or fire or whatever else could possibly happen to this place now that I am in it! It seems that Murphy's Law, "Everything that can go wrong, will! And it will happen at the worst possible time," is fully in effect for me here. But my mom asked me if I was regretting my decision to do this, and I fully said, "NO WAY!"

There are nice things to be said for what is going on as well. Like, today, I got to talk to the coffee supplier, and so that is arranged for delivery. And then there is the carpenter who is a friend of my brother's. He seemed like he actually knew what he was talking about, and that he would do some decent work. I also got my menu board ordered and sent off to the designers for graphic artwork and stuff. And then we got our dumpster delivered today! That was a BIG thing, believe it or not, because without that dumpster, I had no place to start throwing out old junk! So it was nice, to see some of the stuff happening. And I also set up some vendor appointments today with some really influential people. I got to talk to an old friend who is the Senior Vice President of Vienna Beef Co. This guy is UBER important in the city of Chicago, only because his company has been selling the main "CHICAGO DOG" for the past 125 years!

All these companies who I will be dealing with, who are my vendors, and suppliers, will give me free product, or free advertising stuff, or even help pay for my equipment, or my signs, or just a bunch of stuff. Just for selling their stuff! How wicked is that?!?! So I have Pepsi giving me some coolers, to store my soda, salads, and condiments in. I have the coffee guy giving me a coffee system, to sell his coffee. I have the hot dog vendor giving me signs and table umbrella's and free product or cash for putting his logo on my signs and stuff. And people in the neighborhood are really anticipating my opening already. I have only been there two days, and despite the COMPLETE MESS the place is in, I have gotten a relatively lot done! And the place can only get better. I mean, there are things I need to do to make it what it needs to be, and all the little things add up to a big thing. But ultimately, the place will be where it needs to be to pass all the right inspections, and I can do what I have always dreamed of doing.

My chief goal is not to sell a hot dog here. My chief goal is to be a reputable place, with quality food, great service, and always doing things in business with a good ethic. That means, not screwing people over to make a buck. I think the more I do what I need to do without cutting corners, the farther I will get in this business to build a reputation of being the better restaurant operator.

When I can show a profit, will not be the determining factor of my success, but when I can get my vendors and customers to be happy to do business with me each and every time they walk up to my counter. So from the beginning, to the end, and all the time in between, I want to be a business man with integrity, providing a piece of me with every hot dog, gyros, burger, steak sandwich, and appetizer I sell!