We had a good crowd at the Hut today: Lou of course, Barry, Joe, Peter all enjoying their cigar of choice, and I had a Peterson Hudson going with a bowlful of Blenheim from Heroes & Legacies in Austin, Texas (a gift from Joe from his recent visit there).
Joe and I talked a lot about the package he is expecting from Minneapolis - a 24" iMac he bought off eBay. Apart from being pathologically jealous, I am eager to help Joe come over from the dark side and begin exploring the world of the Mac. He has pledged to call me when the package arrives next week and I'll come over and help him get it set up and offer some quick lessons. I told him I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't get drool on the keyboard though.
A lot of the day was spent sympathizing with Lou about the signing of the SCHIP bill by President Obama. Although it doesn't look like the additional tax on large cigars will exceed 40 cents, the tax on RYO (roll-your-own) cigarette tobacco will be punishingly high. Hitting Lou where it hurts the most - his wallet - you could practically feel the love in the air for Obama.
I gave Peter some designs for a business card and rack card for his new business, and we discussed some further ideas a little, including a website. Speaking of websites, the Hut's new website has seen 133 unique visitors since it went live a little over a week ago. I spread the word on Smokers Forums and many people checked it out from there, and some traffic has come from my Pipe Smoking 101 website as well.
I did some admiring of some new Peterson pipes Lou got in last week, the St. Patrick's Day commemorative pipe. He has three in stock of this limited edition pipe, each with a very nice grain pattern and standard stem (not the p-lip). My wife and sister (Paula and Julie respectively) were out shopping together, which is always a dangerous thing, so held off buying one of the Petersons, lest we have no grocery money.
The balance of the day was talking about the state of the economy, the bailout, and the environment. Having recently read Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded, I was able to make some reasonably cogent arguments for weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels altogether and concentrating on renewable energy sources.
There being no more close-encounter-with-a-sports-celebrity stories from Barry, and being 5 o'clock, we helped Lou close up and headed home.
No comments:
Post a Comment