Well, we are sitting here in the aftermath of JAFAX. It was lovely despite
a few kleptos running about and people breaking things and sneaking off to avoid
responsibility. You can't escape stupidity but at least they are very limited
in number at JAFAX.

The security staff were very nice and had some idea who it might be (and we
weren't the only ones hit) so hopefully we will hear something more on this in
the future. Things were still good but our sales were down about 35% compared
to last year.

We have gotten access to a lot of things we haven't been able to get as of
late, and that is really awesome. But between restocking, prepping the
quarterly taxes, and paying for the next convention we aren't going to have
anything to set aside.

If our sales would have equaled those of last year, even with everything
else, I think we would have wound up with 1/8 of our downpayment. But with that
much of a drop, it simply isn't possible. It's particularly frustrating since
this is one of the 2 large ones for the year.

This is the first year we are doing quarterly taxes and it keeps chomping
us at the moments we need to do large restocking. It's like getting your hands
tied. I guess we will have to get used to it but it really throws a wrench into
things.

We will not have to have a storefront to get some of the stock we need now,
thanks to the kindheartedness of another vendor. But I may have to get a job
just to get the downpayment for the business loan. With the economy still in
flux, we simply can't accrue at the rate we expect.

The economy is improving, however-at least in short spurts. We are seeing
some large purchases again, even though they are fewer. Some of the other
companies we know are pushing off new releases until 2010 in hopes of giving
their products a better launch. So we are continuing to try to ride out the
storm and prepare for the future.