Welcome to the "Brand New Look" of our Newsletter

The past three and one half months have been a roller coaster like I have never before experienced. This newsletter was originally scheduled as a black and white edition for January. However, progress on it just kept getting pushed down the "to do" list. Once the coaster made it back to the top of the hill about four weeks ago I decided that the newsletter needed a new look to go along with all the other changes in my life and business. Full color became the next step in the evolutionary cycle. The content has been expanded from 12 to 16 pages, and the frequency reduced from six to four issues a year. This will allow us to keep the relative cost of newsletter production in line. Here’s hoping you enjoy our "Band New Look".

Finding the Fork in the Road

When the curtain came down on Chicagopex, Sunday, November 23rd, the roller coaster was headed to the top of the first hill. In the next two weeks our family celebrated Thanksgiving, Melanie and I packed up our condo, closed on our new house and moved in on the second of December. If that wasn’t enough there was still a business to run during the Holiday season, shopping to do and still find time to pack over 350 cartons of books and the balance of the office to move on December 29th. During this six-week period my good friend "Murphy" stopped by for one of his periodic visits.

Murphy’s first visit was right after closing on December second. On this day he came in the form of the phone company, old reliable SBC. It seems SBC has a problem investing in infrastructure. They didn’t have enough pairs for our development and were unable to install the four phone lines into the house. However, I found that with a cell phone and the right internal SBC numbers you can move mountains. Two weeks later their dsl line installer claimed he couldn’t find our house. I guess they have yet to train their personnel to use a phone. Oh! How I long for the good old days of Illinois Bell Telephone.

The first week in the house I decided to skip a day at the office and seal bathroom and floor tile in the house. Well, it took two days on my hands and knees. I chose wadded up towels to cushion my knees. It will be months before I have a full range of motion in my knees again.

The balance of December and the Holidays seems like a blur. Kids coming home, kids leaving to go back to school and on and on. By the 29th things were pretty smooth. On that day Five Alarm Movers showed up once again, this time at the office. Those guys are great! They are off duty EMTs. Ten hours later they had all of the cartons and furniture in my new office. I though I could unpack it all by the time the Rose Bowl game came on Thursday. By the 15th of January everything was in it’s place.

There are several lessons to be learned here. No matter how well you plan, Murphy is going to show up. Never move a book business. Invest in kneepads. Promise yourself you will never move again. Let your children have the thrill of cleaning out and then selling your house.

This issue of our newsletter is like passing the fork in the road. I think we are headed into calmer waters for the rest of the year. I just hope the landscape contractor doesn’t find our gas line this spring.

The center of the philatelic universe will be in Cleveland in less than two weeks. The March Party is always one of the great shows of the year. When you add a Classics Society annual meeting to the mix you definitely have critical mass. There will be a Dutch treat dinner for Society members on Friday night. Reservations are needed. If you need more information about this or other Society events call me at (847) 462-9130.

If you are within a day’s drive of Cleveland it will pay to make this show. From a postal history perspective you will find every major postal history dealer in country in attendance. The show is held in the Masonic Temple at 3615 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Show hours are Friday, March 26th, 11 AM to 6 Pm, Saturday, March 27th, 10 AM to 6 PM and Sunday, March 28th, 10 AM to 4 PM. There is a shuttle bus that runs every hour between the show hotel, Lakeside Holiday Inn, and the show site.

Our booth is right at the show entrance, just behind the reservation booth. Our entire stock of postal history, essays and proofs, fancy cancels and plenty of literature will be available for your perusal.