my computer is down. this is not unusual. my imac is on the third hard drive in four years. it freezes up daily. i can tell you my old g4 notebook mac laptop is a hundred years old and awesome. i can tell you my ipods and iphone are superb. i can report that getting my mom an ipad is the best thing i could have done. but i will also be blunt in that my imac is junk.

i am coming to you from my kid’s computer. it’s an old mac mini with a dell keyboard and samsung monitor. it won’t download the pictures i took today on my wife’s camera. even though i tried a hundred and fifty times to download the software i can’t figure it out…. so you get no pictures, none… and i don’t care.

my son’s school is doing a tv and screen free week starting today. no tv or ipod or computer time. he’s taking it hard. we don’t have a tv but he loves his ipod touch. he loves the alarm clock which gives him the time all night. he loves the action movie app he discovered last week. he loves taking photos and videos. he loves his ipod touch as much as i love my iphone.

the internet is down at satchel’s. we’re working on “upgrading” the wifi and during that process we have rendered it useless right now. my “tech guy” is coming in wednesday to try and sort it out. the office manager can’t get the internet and i can’t get it on my phone so i get more work done instead.

i have such great images to show you. there is the shot i snapped as i pulled out today of the grill and the chair. my mom brought a charcoal grill last week and we made burgers for lunch. there is the new graffiti art of evan poirier, a local artist who approached me about doing some art at satchel’s. he was in today and quickly painted 3 new things that i want to show you. you’ll have to wait until i get my computer back…. this computer doesn’t seem able to handle this modern camera…

i want to show you the pictures i took about 8pm when i left tonight, of the soft light in the kitchen through the 2 windows and the 2 skylights…. i could show you the new “mop closet” which is only half done. i want to show you all the stupid pictures i took today and get them off my mind…. but my computer is down and this is my kid’s computer. it doesn’t recognize the camera and i don’t have the hours it would take to figure it out….

i miss the pizza, the calzones, the salads, and the people. i miss the customers and employees. i miss the hustle and bustle. i miss the children that were always screaming and crying and playing. i miss the live music and the pizza… did i mention the pizza????

this photo was taken behind my house on one of the sandy spots that used to be a pond. the whole thing is dry and flowers and plants are growing. this is currently my desktop photo. my son pointed it out and asked me to get a picture of it.

yesterday i worked 17 hours. today only 14. things are moving along ok at work. sometimes we take a few steps forward and a step or two back. the A/C is not right and has to be done over. bummer. they have codes and the installers should know them. seems to me the installers should go to classes about the codes so that they don’t spend days installing something and then tear it out and start over. we already did it over once for the fire and now it’ll get done for the third time….

i predict mid june now for a re-opening. it’s been 8 weeks today since the fire and we’re starting to hit the downhill run i feel like. 5 more? 6? hard to say. prediction is a tricky business.

i need to think about now though and not the re-opening. there is such a long list. i’ve called out for employees to help and will hope and pray at least a few come through. from here on out i will need help getting the details back in order and the property sorted in every little way. the greenhouse, the weeds, the dust…. the place needs some TLC right now after 2 months of construction.

gotta get some sleep. here’s another picture from our now dry lake bed:

oh, and if you haven’t seen bad-o-mime 4G, the latest in the series i am directing…. please view it now. if you have already seen it, please watch it again to see if you might have decided it really is funny and hilarious and bizarre….
you can click on the link where it says bad-o-mime 4G but you probably knew that… i used to be able to embed videos here but i think that’s old school technology. now i no longer know how:)

so much happens. so little time or energy to write.

spring break. my wife had a trip planned and then the fire. i had been stressed so long that a getaway seemed appropriate.
we went to california to visit friends and ended up in the joshua tree state park.

our friends had rented the house in the bottom of the screen. i took this from my phone on a hike.

meanwhile, at home, someone stole a lot of tools and stuff. the total loss was about $2500 but i have no insurance for loss of contents at work because we use our alarm. the alarm was down due to the fire so i spent one day in california on the phone between the contractor and the security company, getting the alarm back working. they stole both of my circular saws, my 2 new drills, my jigsaw, my video camera, still camera, and 2 work iPods. then they stole a list of other tools from other folks who had tools there.

later, loading up some wood at lowe’s i busted out my back window. then the next day some large shelves in my greenhouse collapsed. the electrician’s bid came in at twice what i expected. i am back home and in the daily stresses are heavy on my shoulders, but i picked green and began to paint the new satchel’s myself.

thank GOD for easter and my mom’s cooking and entertaining of the kids…

if i was not so tired i would tell you a million stories and show you 500 pictures, but i can’t believe i got this far. i’ve been working such long days that todays 12 hours seems like nothing. this is a trial for me. trying times for sure. but my kids are beacons and my wife is my inspiration and the people out there who love pizza miss my place. i miss it. hard.

i am constantly putting out the bright image of optimism. behind the curtain it is a struggle every day. i know it shouldn’t be but there is so much to do my brain hurts.

funny how a small fire can change so much.