August 8, 2002
Emptying My Mind Went into Border’s books with Bob Brink and we met Daniel H. and Robert R. there at 10 to have a cover seminar. We got coffee ($3.45 cash) then sat in cafe, next to the magazine rack and discussed our sell-thru ratio, what covers have worked and why, what hasn’t work, etc. Then we went over and looked at the different categories, history, travel, art, and looked at logos, heds, art vs. photography, color schemes, cover subjects. Got some good dialogue going. Daniel and Robert are convinced we need to streamline our logo for 2003. Bob Brink agrees. The W on our current logo is hard to read. After that, we drove to Bookstar and repeated the process. I wanted Daniel to see that sometimes he's designing in a vaccum. I think it’s easy to get insulated in our design world and not see what is happening in the real world. And the magazine business is a brutal, surreal world of its own.

Got back to office around noon, Bob invited me to lunch at his golf club restaurant. Had a cob salad and a cup of chili. Too much food. Good talk with Bob about how we made it through the year 2000 (we technically shouldn’t be in business because of all the boneheaded mistakes we made).

Worked on Classic Gunfights some more and media kits for 2003. Also had a quick meeting with Abby and Robert about production flow while he’s gone (he’s flying to Salt Lake then renting a car and making the loop through Yellowstone. He’ll be gone for 10 days).

Worked until around six, went up to Kathy’s, met her and Tommy, 19, drove down to Scottsdale. She dropped me off at Barnes & Noble while she went to buy a new computer. Bought a great book on Van Gogh and his portraits ($9.95, plus tax, $10.75 cash). Went to dinner at Ice Breakers where Deena was working. Had dinner and a good talk with them (Kathy bought, $32 debit). Her computer was a grand ($1,000)

On the way home, Tommy played me a new Hives song. Never heard them before. Really liked it. Very early Rolling Stones. Funny how the more things change....