diner-rific

So...it has been a week since the big grand opening and I know you are all dying of curiosity to know how it is all going. Let me tell ya: gangbusters. We have been blessed with more business than we know what to do with. The weekend was a mad scramBle of last minute repairs (we were closed all day saturday to fix the goddamned hood vent. it better be the last i hear from that fucker), hiring every person i could get m y hands on, and attempting to rest some and get rid of the godforsaken cold that seems to have taken up permanent residence in my lungs. i have smoke like 2 cigarettes in 6 days and i still can't seem to breathe. mucus is not my friend, contrary to what those awesome commercials would have you believe. anyway, 7 days have passed and it seems like we might actually make it here. a big shout out to all of you who have come down and helped make this place the raging success it already is, and a big shame shame on those who haven't. you are missing some delicious food and the coolest tables in nashville.
holla.

and the "i spoke too soon" award goes to...

okey dokey. here it is 1:14 AM and I am still here. Why? Andy took off with the key to my car in his pocket and his cell phone on the charger here. I am at his mercy to figure this out sometime before 4:45 when he is due back here. Looks like I am getting zero sleep before our big open later. Yay me.
holla.

why the fuck am i still up?

Sooooooooo.....we open in 5 1/2 hours and i am still here. I just got done washing all the tables and setting them, sweeping and resweeping, mobbing up like a mofo (mobbies -- you know who you are), organizing the office, drinking assloads of delicious diet coke, and readying myself mentally for a new facet of my life which is scheduled to begin in less time than i care to admit to myself right now. i feel like a kid on christmas eve. i am all jittery and excited and basically all out stoked for what the future holds for me, and that is the first time i have even remotely felt this way since i was about 20. if you knew me back then, then you are familiar with the organization (that shall remain nameless) that shit on me and pretty much sapped my will to live for a long time. Well, that was the last time i can remember being excited about what was in store for me, at least career-wise. suddenly, i am again invested in my own future. thank goodness. i was beginning to think i was destined to live out the rest of my life in a state of hopeless desperation, broken up only by shallow respites of drunken debauchery. now i get to work 15 hour days and fall into bed exhausted each night, albeit with a smile on my face. now if only andy and i can avoid killing each other, all will be well. come by tomorrow and eat an egg sandwich and help us pay for the produce that i am writing a bad check for.
holla.

Ohmigod, HOW much for one shelf?

Well, here it is, Monday night, and once again we are pushing the opening day back. At least it is only one day this time and not a week. It looks like we might do this!! We got our second food order today, including perishables, so if we don't get open and start selling food, we will be forced to have a huge party this weekend to get rid of the hundreds of eggs and whatnot. In other words: we are opening, dammit. Tomorrow we have to prep all the food, sand 7 tables, interview a couple dozen people, meet with our pastry chef (you heard me. we have a pastry chef on payroll, which means made-from-scratch bread, biscuits, pies, cakes, cobblers, etc. yum.),meet with our legalzoom rep about the LLC, learn how to use the world's most complicated cash register, pray the fire marshall has time to bring me my permit, possibly eat, drink, sleep, and bathe at some point, and finish the final chapter of my novel while running a marathon. No big. come see us wednesday and eat an egg sandwich. dare ya.
holla.

now with even more updatage!!!

Hey all....guess what? I think we might actually be able to open this sonofabitch we like to call a diner within the foreseeable future, health department willing. Yvette, if you are reading this, you are the most lovely person I have never met and I wish you and yours well, and if you are allowed to take bribes PLEASE let me know. I will totally pay you off to get the doors open. I know it's been a couple days since my last post, but a lot has happened. One ice machine, a fryer, 7000 dollars in installment fees, happy green paint, and about a 6" layer of drywall dust only begins to describe the fun we have been experiencing here at Pied Piper. Anyone who feels bored with their life, try to open a diner in 6 weeks. I dare you. Anyway, I think we might actually get a soft open on Tuesday, unless Yvette comes in here and leaves us a list of 9000 impossible tasks. PLEASE feel free to come by and eat an egg sandwich and give us some feedback and admire my craftiness on the table tops. We can't wait to share this place with someone besides ourselves, especially since Andy and I might kill each other if we don't start spending time with other people.
holla.

BIG P.S. A mighty shout out and thank you to Vegas, Rob, and Matt Kindt for kindly volunteering their time and effort last night helping us get in shape for health department today. We couldn't have done it without ya'll...ok. We COULD have, but it would have been much harder.

updatage

For those of you that religiously follow my every move, this is just a little update on the diner and what is happening. As I type, my dad and Jimmy are framing out the walls for my new office, walk-in, and dry storage area. If all goes well, this little project will be complete in the next couple of days, and we'll be ready to paint. I am thinking green. Once the paint is dry we'll be able to get all the tables and chairs in place and really start to see how this place is going to look. I am super stoked. If we don't get open and start generating some income soon, I will be forced to go pick up shifts at Texas Roadhouse, which will make me more than a little cranky, to say the least. At least we sold the infernal salad bar ($500!!!) on ebay, so there is some help. We are hopefully having a soft open this weekend, so if you live in Nashville, I expect you and yours at the corner of Riverside and Porter with empty stomachs and open minds. Meantime, feel free to come on by and check it out. We won't even put you to work unless you ask. Plus, we now officially have the coolest fucking tables in the world. If you don't believe me then come decide for yourself. See you soon?
holla.