Still Life – Traveling with Bananas No. 18a LUV…

Mars out.

Still Life – Traveling with Bananas No. 18…

Mars out.

Dryads and horizons…

09252006

Out west are lands that have rolling hills and long flat vistas. The horizon is a line you see and it is a comfort for me to wonder about all that happens beyond. It is a definition, it’s a source of motivation – after a few curves and fields miles west of Hydro on I40 you come upon a series of buttes and small canyons I immediately connect to my primordial self and smile a peaceful sigh.

The sunsets are magical. On long afternoon rides (bicycle) I would watch the sun descend through a gauze colored like the skin of a gassed nectarine. Maybe with a slash of purple.

I now live in a land of trees and hills. North Carolina. The horizon does not exist until you reach the Atlantic Ocean. I drove to the DC area this weekend and didn’t see anything but trees. Even cities with half a million warm bodies are obscured behind the veil of green. I go over a hill and see….more trees. I ride my bike around a sweeping curve and see…more trees.

I miss the horizon and the setting (and rising) sun.

Around the 97th meridian storms roll in from far away. The anvils ascend to heaven and arrive soon enough like the ending of a three act play. In NC the storms can be loud and energetic but you cannot see them. They float over on old grey pillows.

Mars out.

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From last year after the move to NC – there are horizons, straight roads and beautiful sunsets in Louisiana where I live now (for the next 9 months). M

Cone of vision…

03192007

Here’s a basic graphic (above – click on thumbnail) I drew of the concept of the Cone of Vision as presented by Mr. Larry Klein in Exhibits: Planning and Design. Below are some of my thoughts and ideas I’m incorporating into my new art festival booth design.

Most festivals offer spaces 10×10 feet and depending on the venue there may be wide aisles or narrow lanes. I have noticed that many folks walk a parallel line to the row of booths about 3 to 7 feet from the front of the tents or canopies. The person most likely to break away and shop will be the person walking closest to the booths.

Let me indulge in describing a pet peeve – goofballs of all ages. They are usually carrying a turkey leg in the right hand, have purple goo from a grape snow cone running down their left hand and arm and they want to touch everything you have displayed and buy nothing. I have seen it too many times to sit passively and let them damage my goods. The answer to the question is glass and height.

By placing a physical barrier in front of and above your jewelry you control who gets to touch. Glass is perfect. The benefit involves risk management and loss prevention – fancy terms for fewer thefts, less polishing and cleaning. Height limits the pre-teen kids, most do not have a credit card and they like to touch sparkly things. The average eye level of an 8 year old is 3′-11″ and the perfect height for the base cabinet or structure for your display.

Move the rear wall of your booth closer and hang display cases with belts, necklaces or framed blow-ups (orange rectangle) of your best selling designs – sell more of them so you’ll make more units and reduce your unit cost with production efficiencies. Sell more of what you know will sell. This means more profit.

This is an idea on marketing from the think tank. I have more on this topic and this is posted on the personal website.

Mars out.

edited 20090619 for clarity

Want to buy a house???

02252007

I’m at the age where I can say I have seen a few things. Unfortunately, I haven’t been paying attention and acting on these observations the same amount of time. I learn something about myself every day and sometimes see opportunities. In 1981 close family friends always liked to tell the story of seeing oil drilling rigs abandoned in bar ditches on county roads in the 1950’s after an oil bust. Some of those rigs were supposed to drill their leases. So they started buying more mineral rights and died with more money than they could spend. That was thirty years ago. This cycle is recurring on a grand scale today, but that’s another story.

Do you have any cash? I don’t mean fake cash – loans, credit, credit cards, etc. I mean a stack of hundreds. How big a stack? I don’t know – a small stack will do, at least one comma. Do you know how to read? Can you google your county tax assessor’s web site? Do you know how to use a wrecking bar, hammer and paintbrush? The backside of the ARM credit cycle is coming…

When the news reader on TV news tells you about some boring financial statistic like:

lowest savings rate per capita, ever;
highest ratio of sub-prime mtgs, ever;
highest rate of adjustable rate mtgs (regions), avg period 3 years;
rising prime interest rate;
rising debt to asset ratio for banks and savings and loans;
default and non-performing (mtg and cc)rates rising at fastest rate in a long time and soon to be, ever;
rising mortgage foreclosure rate;
declining average and median selling prices of homes;
REITs share values declining (and big money buying shares);
corporate home builders posting consecutive quarter losses;
corporate home builders writing off land options in the hundreds of millions;
banks contributing additional capital to keep doors open;
local banks closing is a big one (this is prima facie evidence opportunities are down the street);

etc;

listen.

To the distressed real estate investor these things simply mean: ROI=HUGE

I wrote the post above in February, 2007 and things are going to get worse in some areas. But the simple fact that many people all over the country borrow money via an ARM with “teaser” rates means there will be opportunities down the street – get your cash ready. The bust should be going strong by 2008 and use cash to buy an owner-financed property for 20-80% less than the value today.

Combine foreclosures with the new dynamic of rising gasoline/diesel prices and opportunities in rural areas open up quicker and foreclosed residences near large employers in urban areas become opportunities as commuters get sucked back into the city.

Mars out.