August, 7, 2006 archives

”bitter brew” is a slate article by michael idov about his failed effort at running a neighborhood coffee shop. he makes a comment that “none of us would ever consider opening a laundromat,” but someone once told me that laundromats can actually be cash cows. here’s an article that suggests they can yield profit margins of 25 to 35 percent.

the person who told me this had looked into buying one, and found that one way to evaluate the business of an existing laundromat was by the amount of water they consumed. (because it is a cash business, relying on the accounting can be tricky.)

rather than show you a picture of our freshly-painted kitchen (with its new refrigerator and water cooler), i’ll instead share the fright that is the air conditioner in another room. there was actually a full frame around it before i got to it, but the left and bottom parts of the frame, which held a broken sheet of plastic, were actually just sort of glued on to the wall. so when i was prepping the room to paint it, i went a little nuts and ripped them out. parts of the wall went along for the ride. i haven’t figured out how to deal with this. i don’t think my little can of spackle is up to it.

i guess i’ll just have to buy a bigger can.