Today was my last day working as a part-time baker at Great Harvest Sandpoint. It is the end of a part-time job that I took to help pay the bills while still in graduate school but held onto for 6 months after graduate school ended. It was fun to go back and read about taking the job. It is sad that I had to finally give up the job, as I did enjoy it. But with the upcoming move (in 16 days) to South Lake Union it was time to say goodbye. Nate and Dayspring Schlachter, the owners of the bakery and my boss were excellent to work for. The motto of Great Harvest is “Be loose and have fun. Make phenomenal Bread. Run fast to help customers. Create Strong Exciting Bakeries. And give generously to others.” and Nate and Dayspring certainly embody all these. More than once I have seen Dayspring run across the bakery to help a customer, or Nate give out free samples of coffee, bread, or muffins. Their generosity not only spills into customers but also into their employees. When we had to come in at midnight for holidays we would always have a fresh supply of vegetables and fruit, gatorade, and pizza to help make it through the night. So thank you Nate and Dayspring to being who you are to your employees and you the company you work for. And here’s to the next chapter of friendship. Washers on the roof deck, fires on the roof deck, New Belgium Beers at Nana’s, and soon-to-be road trips to Fort Collins as well as soon-to-be camping trips.

Just for fun I did a rough (conservative) calculation of what I made as a part-time baker for 15 months:

peace
joel

Is it possible for a politician to speak with honesty? To speak with conviction? To speak about his religion without offending? Is it possible?

I’m sure many of us doubt that this is possible. In a day where anybody from Jerry Falwell and James Dobson to Jim Wallis are talking about their faith we sometimes forget that it is possible. Some have forgotten that faith is not a baseball bat.

I stumbled upon this speech from Barack Obama that was given this summer. And boy am I glad I stumbled, because it is a beautiful speech that is filled with honesty, conviction, and understanding.

The speech is 40 minutes long. But i guarantee you that the 40 minutes you spend watching it will be worth it.

peace
joel

so after wrestling with a decision on what type of business to open in SLU I think I have decided on at least a direction to start running in — but this direction has to remain confidential for now. But in so doing, I have continued the hardwork of creating at least a draft of the business plan. And I have become quickly aware of my finiteness. So I post this post as a casting of the tentacles of assistance. I have some major categories of work to be researched that i have a good intuitive sense about but would love to talk to someone to confirm i’m at least pointing in the right direction. so to any of you who read this (this does not include you spammers) if you are someone or know someone that would be willing to lend an hour of their time to help with:

– Figuring out how much it will cost to build a space out
– How to get good demographics of Seattle without having to pay a fortune
– Marketing — how will I market myself and to whom
–Rental space — what is a good price and what loop holes do i need to be aware of?

thanks y’all.
joel

its official as of 10 something this morning. our first condo is for sale. we are going to miss this place — it has been quite good to us. from being able to walk up to dinner at our favorite place — Nana’s soup house. to grabbig a quick lunch t metropolitan market after running on the Burke Gilman trail. To not having to deal with parking issues at University village because we walk there. But most of all we are going to miss having people over for dinner here. Although Brooke and I rented for a year before we bought I consider this our first formative place. many a meal were had over here with good conversation, bad conversation, laughter, tears, and everything in between.

Not to transition abruptly, but I hope it sells quickly because we bought a condo in South Lake Union that we are itching to get into. Our closing date on that one is April 12th. Exciting. And it sounds like silliness, but we bought another condo as well. You know the ones we had been praying for for almost a year — well we got our first choice. But since those aren’t going to be finished until at least October 2008 we thought we would buy a different one in SLU instead of renting. craziness? some have argued. risky? maybe. but worth it to live one city block from whole foods market? 8 blocks from Lake Union. 5 blocks from the Space Needle. 7 Blocks from the downtown core. 14 blocks from Pike Place Market. ahhhh.

oh, yeah, and if any of you are looking for a great condo to buy. buy ours. the listing is here.

peace
joel