Where do I begin? Let’s start with wieners. That is where it all begins anyway, isn’t it?

Two questions in the opening paragraph. My English professors would not approve, unless I was able to justify it as creative license.

On to the serious matters of this blog. If you are smiling, stop. We are serious now. I am in the business of being serious after all.

I am glad that the month of March is coming to an end. I am not sure how material entities, such as bars, equipment, furniture, et cetera know about calendars, but they do. March was no a kind month.

Before we go into details, let’s recap. Do you remember the plumber? I am meeting with the contractors board in May. After he called and promised payment so as not to go on the record, payment never arrived. His word is as good as his plumbing. I did my due diligence and continued through the proper channels with the State of Oregon. It should come to fruition or at least a conclusion in a little over a month.

In other news, without writing at length a situation happened to begin this month. Basically, without permission, without a verbal or written contract, without even a quote, people came in and did a lot of work at Star Bar. The details of how it came about are superfluous. Nonetheless, on a Friday afternoon, I walked in at the beginning of March to all of my equipment dismantled and being cleaned. Now at this point, you are pretty much caught with your wiener in your hands and your pants around your ankles. There is not much you can do. Then, when all is said and done, the job was done correctly. And no prices were discussed. And nothing was agreed upon. But you can’t tell them to shove it up their arse. You negotiate. And think to yourself that this month is starting out pretty rotten, but it is a long month and things will get better.

Then you have the slowest week since you’ve been open.

Then your fryer goes up in flames, literally.

Then, somewhere in between, your sink comes off the wall in your bathroom.

And the leaks were everywhere… water dripping from every corner. Dripping, not pouring, and being fixed, but dripping elsewhere after each fix.

Did I mention that I maxed out my personal credit card for only the second time in my life to buy outdoor seating?

And all of this is to hammer the point and add dramatic effect (for example, my credit card was carrying a balance). March sucked. But we had our busiest day since we’ve been opened in March. We are minutes away from a new menu. Our liquor store told us we were in their top three bars and restaurants for ordering liquor from them (keep in mind Portland has several liquor stores and nobody is required to order from the same store, or all of their inventory from one store, so that can be tempered somewhat). And we passed the six month mark.

We are a small, but scrappy business.

Nobody was hurt in the writing of this blog or the fryer fire. Some words were exchanged that might have offended the more sensitive of listeners with the “repairs” at the beginning of the month, however, but no blood was spilled. No bones were broken.

And we move forward.

And we hold our head up.

And we, because I am not alone in this by any means, move forward.

Star Bar. Rock and roll. Hoochy coo.