I strongly oppose laying flooring of all varieties. I spent about five hours today laying vinyl tile and I covered about a quarter of the floor. It's not so much the floor laying that gets me down, it's the fact that my hands and arms were sticky with floor glue and now they're less sticky but smell more strongly of turpentine. Tomorrow I'm going to lay the rest of the floor. Maybe.
Oh, what I said the other day about opening on June 2? Total crap. I've moved my appointment with the Health Inspector to Monday, so I won't be legally able to open until Tuesday. Figure I'll have the place open for limited hours toward the end of next week and the grand opening celebration will take place on June 9. This is, for those keeping track, not Cinco de Mayo. So sue me. Unless you're the city of Philadelphia, in which case I'd really rather you not sue me. Thanks.
In other news, the place is half red and I've got a big pipe running through the ceiling.
Oh, and as of last night the Beauty Shop Cafe is air conditioned. Please don't tell anyone that the a/c unit is held onto the building with seven screws. It would probably make them nervous, which would be needless.
Pictures coming soon. And I mean it. Probably.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
I've definitely had a splinter in my palm since Thursday...
and I just pulled it out.
Oh, and we're going to be open a week from today.* Just thought I'd let y'all know.
* This is assuming that there are no unexpected hiccups involving the good people who run Philadelphia. Just thought I'd add that little hedge.
Oh, and we're going to be open a week from today.* Just thought I'd let y'all know.
* This is assuming that there are no unexpected hiccups involving the good people who run Philadelphia. Just thought I'd add that little hedge.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Working hard, or hardly working?
Wow, I've been remiss in sharing my progress with the world. Sorry Jenn.
So I'm at the cafe pretty much all the time these days. And things are moving in, like, big ways.
I built a bar (with much help from Josh W., without whose help I'd have been pretty much screwed, and some additional help from my Dad). Pretty much all my walls are built, the plumbing is done, to a large extent. In fact, the bathroom is pretty much all the way there, with the exception of silly details like a paint job and a door. I laid a rubber floor behind the bar (which was entirely terrible), built a window seat, did some serious painting (well, priming, really), and got a bunch of my equipment. My espresso machine was in the back seat of my car for a few days until the guy who's servicing the thing picked it up the day before yesterday. Apparently, my La Marzocco needs a little love.
Oh, and my massive binder of crap for the health department got approved. So there's some seriously good news.
There are only a few possible pitfalls that could really hold me up at this point.
1) There's too much work to do and not enough hours in the day (which, of course, is backed up in a big way by the fact that I'm sitting here typing crap)
2) The plumber has to run a pipe through the ceiling, through the apartments above the cafe, through the roof. The second floor apartment might become a problem because my landlord doesn't want a pipe sticking out of the floor and going into the ceiling in the place. He says it's not aesthetically pleasing. Don't know what he's talking about. So I need to figure out a way to get that pipe through that place without having to move a door. Which could be costly.
3) The good people at Licenses and Inspections could decide that I shouldn't be building stuff without a permit and shut me down until I get said permit. That would be inconceivably bad. I hope to deal with that situation tomorrow. Wish me luck.
4) I melt while working. It gets f'in hot in that place. And no, I can't put in A/C until I get some/most/all of the dust outta there.
So I'm at the cafe pretty much all the time these days. And things are moving in, like, big ways.
I built a bar (with much help from Josh W., without whose help I'd have been pretty much screwed, and some additional help from my Dad). Pretty much all my walls are built, the plumbing is done, to a large extent. In fact, the bathroom is pretty much all the way there, with the exception of silly details like a paint job and a door. I laid a rubber floor behind the bar (which was entirely terrible), built a window seat, did some serious painting (well, priming, really), and got a bunch of my equipment. My espresso machine was in the back seat of my car for a few days until the guy who's servicing the thing picked it up the day before yesterday. Apparently, my La Marzocco needs a little love.
Oh, and my massive binder of crap for the health department got approved. So there's some seriously good news.
There are only a few possible pitfalls that could really hold me up at this point.
1) There's too much work to do and not enough hours in the day (which, of course, is backed up in a big way by the fact that I'm sitting here typing crap)
2) The plumber has to run a pipe through the ceiling, through the apartments above the cafe, through the roof. The second floor apartment might become a problem because my landlord doesn't want a pipe sticking out of the floor and going into the ceiling in the place. He says it's not aesthetically pleasing. Don't know what he's talking about. So I need to figure out a way to get that pipe through that place without having to move a door. Which could be costly.
3) The good people at Licenses and Inspections could decide that I shouldn't be building stuff without a permit and shut me down until I get said permit. That would be inconceivably bad. I hope to deal with that situation tomorrow. Wish me luck.
4) I melt while working. It gets f'in hot in that place. And no, I can't put in A/C until I get some/most/all of the dust outta there.
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