And Now the Screaming Starts

(No, not the 1973 gothic horror movie about a disembodied ambulatory hand that scared the crap outta me when I was about 10 or so..)

Ok.  After a week off of completing paperwork and dealing with government and related "stuff", it's time for paperwork to start again.  (Hence, the "Screaming" in the title.)

There's a whole stream of paperwork that needs to be filled out and sent to someone so they can send me back another bit of paperwork so I can then send them money.  Then we gotta contact vendors and get set up with them.  I might be jumping the gun just a bit but I wanna make sure when we're ready to open we're actually ready to open.

Theme Night Survey

If you haven't completed it yet, don't forget to give us your opinion on theme nights at The Phoenix.  We've received some good responses and we want more!  You only have until Thursday!

Theme Night Survey

Wide Open Space

(Ok, not so wide and open, I guess.)

Got the stuff we don't want in the bar during construction out of the bar.  Demolition of the roof can begin whenever they're ready to start.  (Whenever that turns out to be....)

Here's a blurry panorama of the bar ready for work.  Wave hello to Karl at the window.

On your mark,... Get set,...

Everything is now at the point of being ready but the weather. But good news is on the horizon. Clear weather is forecast for Monday. Can we believe the forecast? They have been wrong so many times before.

The construction people are what I consider vague. There are many calls back and forth about when they will start. I am told something could start happening Monday. At least we will get a big trash dumpster and the A/C unit will be taken down.

Just seeing the outside of the building change will be such a joy. This excludes the changes that were made by graffiti taggers. Those changes we could do without.

The Rest of the Story

Ack!  I forgot to mention a few details about Monday's visit to Fresno.

Over the weekend, I received a letter from the Health Department requesting a little more information that we had on the plans.  It didn't seem like much of a problem; just where the sinks were, the location of the floor drain, and hand sink, etc.  But I wanted to find out from them how they wanted the information.  So, Monday morning, I talked to them and they just needed the stuff either hand drawn onto the plans or on a 8.5 x 11 paper.

I expected to have to make an appointment later in the week to go over the information but the nice woman was available that afternoon.  So we, get into the car and drive down for the appointment at 2:00.

And, 45 minutes later, we walk out of there with their stamp of approval.  So we head to City Hall.  The Health Department was all we were needed so I figured we'd be able to get a building permit.

The Planning and Development Department of the City was fairly slow when we got there about 3:00 so that was good.  But, the sets of plans we had were, well, kinda mixed up.  Approval stamps from one agency on one set and only on some of the sheets in the other sets and things like that.  But, we got it all straightened out and got the City the two sets of plans with all the appropriate approval stamps they needed.

After a visit to the cashier, we walked out with our permit.

And now you know.....................................
................the rest of the story.

The $10,000 Piece of Construction Paper

Phew!

Three months and four days after we started the process with The City of Fresno to get the building permit and after spending darn close to $10,000 on various services, government fees, and probably a few other things I've completely forgotten, we have our building permit.

I feel like I can finally relax for a bit.  I can't.  But I feel like I can.

Both Karl and I have been waiting until we had a permit in our grubby little hands before we made any real construction plans.  And he's been on the phone today with the contractors that will be working first.  A/C guy, demolition guy, and the truss guy.  (No, not the truss your grandfather wore.)

As early as next week you'll begin to see some actual physical work on the bar as you drive by.

It's a great relief to finally be at this point.

Here, Karl is holding the $10,000 sheet of construction paper.

Everybody Wants us to Open

This seems a little weird to me.

Not only have both Karl and I heard from many folks in the gay community about The Phoenix being open, the business owners in the neighborhood also want us to open.  I would never in my life have though that a bunch of small business owners in Fresno, California would actually want a gay bar to open up in their area.  But that's exactly what's been going on.  The guys across the street from the bar have been watching out for the place and chasing away, uh, we'll call these lovely ladies "undesireables".  The owner of the store right next door has been helpful and friendly.  I'm sure we'd get a similar reaction from others, too.

It's just weird.  I'm happy for it, but it's weird.

Mobile Site Working as Intended

Well, that didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might.

The much, much lighter and faster version of our website is up and running on http://m.fresnophoenix.com/ .  It took some unusual (to me, anyway) file location gymnastics but doing it this way was fairly easy.  If not tedious.

Ok, it was very tedious.  Very, very tedious.

It's not terribly pretty and there are still a few small things to add (like a map) but at least it's working for ya!

Ok, maybe having a map on your mobile device to find us isn't so small.  I do have to investigate how to integrate it well with the map apps folks may already have.  It would be nice for folks to use an app they're familiar with for directions on the go.

Reflections Upon a Successful but Surprising Electrical Plan Back Check on the Day of Saint Patrick

I'm not a contractor. I've never dealt with The City of Fresno from the perspective of a developer. I've never even carted so many large sheets of paper around. So the entire process of getting this building permit is, shall we say, "different" from everything else I've experienced. (And I'm told that even in the world of plan checks the Fresno ones are an anomaly for being so plodding.)

Anyway, I get to the Development department receptionist ("Hi, Joyce!") not really knowing what to expect. I don't know if I need to resubmit the electrical plans or what. I figured it was going to be a resubmission and having to deal with the front desk again. I had questions prepared about the parking situation and related things. I didn't even know what to ask of or say to Joyce. She and I talk for a bit about what I'm actually doing and she says I needed to have made a "back check" appointment. I thought to myself, "Oops" and figured I'd just go ahead and make the appointment while standing there and have to come back. No real problem. (I have learned a higher level of patience through all of this.)

But, Joyce called the guy who I would have to do the back check with and asks if he can come up for a back check. And he can and does.

So I take this huge bundle of plans into the "back check room" and meet with the guy.

Five minutes or so later, I walk out with stamped and approved electrical plans.

For a few short seconds with the guy, I thought I might be getting a building permit, too! But, I still have to wait for the Health Department's approval. Again, no big deal. (They are supposed to be done by Monday, March 21, 2011.) Even if it were later than the 21st they were supposed to be done, what's a few more days at this point, eh?

So, that's where we are now. I'll have to get in touch with the nice folks at the Health Department to find out what's going on some time today.

Plan Check Done!!

I'll post more later, but just finished with the city and our plan check is complete.  Only waiting for health deptartment now.

I Sing The Paddy's Day Electric!

Ok, so my post title is a bit of a stretch.

But, Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  (Explains the green text, eh?)

Good news on the electrical plans front.  The redone drawings are ready to pick up and I'm about to head out to Fresno to pick them up and drag them to The City.  It's just a requested-revision so I don't expect to have too much of a problem with them at the City.  The initial submission took only about three days to get returned to us so I expect about the same with this.

We'll see what happens, though...

The Lights are On....

...but nobody's home.  At least in the bar, anyway.

Over the weekend, decided on what we're gonna have for lighting in the bar.  It took a trip to Fresno to the hardware store but we got it figured.  And we'll be well below the Title 24 requirements for wattage used for lighting.  Picked out some nice LED lights along with some immensely flattering fluorescent lights.  Got a few new track lights, too.

Overall, the shopping wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it might be.  It's not that I dislike shopping it's that I didn't relish the figuring of wattages and locations and a bunch of other stuff.  But it's done.  And our electric bill will thank us, I'm sure.

So, we've sent the list to the engineer guy who should have them implemented sometime today (if not yesterday; we'll have to check on that) and then it's back to City Hall where the second-to-last Magical Hoop™ can be cleared.

(Hmmm...  If all goes well, construction may commence the week of March 28.  Cross your fingers and hope I didn't just put myself too far out on the limb there...)

Mobile Site Not Working as Intended

Well, crap.

I thought our mobile website was "working as intended" (and it is on some mobile devices and on certain browsers like Opera Mini) but with my new smartphone I got I see it is not working as intended at all.

Frankly, it looks like shit.

On top of that, it's too damn large.  We use too much of your data plan to get show you things you'd like to know.  So, I'm going through and redesigning the structure of the web site to be more phone phriendly.  Should take about a week or two, I think.  Maybe three...

Time to go Shopping!

I'm not as thrilled about this as the exclamation point in the post title might lead you to believe.

The solution to the electrical plans, uh, issue I mentioned yesterday is for Karl and I to go shopping for specific light fixtures that will fit in with the Title 24 requirements.  For us, that apparently means we can't have more than 1,115 watts being used for lighting for the entire bar.

Our engineer guy originally specified 35w low voltage halogens for some of the fixtures.  But, when he tried to find the fixures online, he, too, found that 35w low voltage halogen light fixtures of that type don't exist.  So, we go shopping.  Yay.

We have to come up with a lighting plan that will not use more than 1,115 watts for the entire bar.  Shouldn't be too dififcult but will probably involve some calculus-type calculations.  (Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch but should work out alright.)

In every construction project, there is probably something that should have been done much differently than it was done.  (It was that way for us when we got our house; though, I now forget what that was.)  The electrical plans and design are probably that aspect for this project.  But, no worries.  It'll all work out in the end.

Lighting Lacking

Well, here's a great annoyance....

Turns out some of the fixtures our electrical plans called for may not exist.  (Or, if they do exist, they're so far out of our budget it's not worth even thinking about them.)

We were originally told to just to to a home improvement store and pick out some fixtures and write down the model numbers and such.  When Karl got to the store, he was told by the store's "electrical specialist" (or whatever he was called) that several of the fixtures don't exist. 

Karl is meeting (right now) with the guy who drew them to try to figure out what to do about this problem.

Liquor License Transfer Complete!

There was no update yesterday since both Karl and I were running around Fresno doing things that needed to happen for the bar.

Most notably, bringing money to the escrow company so the liquor license transfer can be completed.  Which was done.  Earlier this morning, escrow closed and the liquor license is now offically ours.

WE CAN SELL DRINKS!  (Well, kinda.  We don't yet have a place that is licensed in which we can legally sell anything much less alcohol.)

Booze For Sale!

Well, not quite.

Over the weekend, I checked the ABC's website for the status of the liquor license transfer.  Turns out, it's in our name and is shown as "Active".  So, it's ours!  We can sell alcohol!  Now, if we only had a place to sell it in...

(Escrow hasn't quite closed on the transfer.  We're waiting on an official, written release of the transfer from the ABC to be sent to the escrow company.  With the license in our name and shown as "active" I don't know why that release wouldn't be arriving today.  If it didn't arrive over the weekend.)

Is It In?

Yep.

The electrical plans were submitted for approval yesterday.  The receptionist said it could take up to two weeks but I'm not expecting it to take nearly that long.  It's two damn pages the guy will be looking at.

I'd expect to hear back from him by say Friday, March 11.

Yep. Jinxed.

Yep.  I jinxed it yesterday.

Plans weren't submitted.  There was a bit of a, shall we say, scheduling issue.  Karl has left the house and is currently on his way to pick up plans, get confused, get things straighted out, get confuddled, get that straightened out and spend more money.

I'll either post an update later today or over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the liquor license transfer is about to be complete.  It should be ours by Tuesday of next week.  (Not that it'll do us much good at this point but it's good to have that nearly done.)

JINX!

I'm hesitant to say this.

But, <heavy, anticipatory sigh> it looks like we'll get our Electrical drawings complete and approved later today.  That leaves only the Health Department's stamp before we can get our building permit.  <crossing fingers>  I don't expect the Heath Department to have much to say other than adding a few notations about stuff they want to see.  <other fingers crossed>

Status Update

Earlier this week, I quietly put up a new page on our web site sort of giving a rough-to-detailed outline of where we are in the process.  It gives a quick look into the current state of affairs as well as what needs to happen before we open and what has already happened.

It's the Building Status page.  Give it a look-see.

(There has been a lot that has already been completed.  Since I made that list at the end of February, I'm certain I forgot things that had to be done but have been completed.  The "Not Yet Begun" parts should be fairly complete, though.)

Color Test, Part 2

It seems my hints have been not obvious enough.  Maybe a few different shapes would help.

Can you figure out where we took these colors from?  And where you may have seen them before?

Healthy Plans, Part Two

Plans submitted to the Health Department yesterday.  They'll probably have them for about a week or so before they get back to us on what changes (if any) need to be made.  From what they're saying, they'll probably want the completed electrical drawing page as well so we'll probably be delayed by that.  (That should have been started today by the guy doing that.)

Well, what's another week or two of delay at this point?