See you soon!

So seriously, this is it. Could something stop us? Well, sure, the world is full of happy little catastrophic surprises. But we’re talking statistically unmeasurable stuff.

So What’s Left?

We’re still finishing organizing, putting everything in a place and tidying. The second picture shows our progress on some shop terrain (with big thanks to a few helpers). There’s a pile of tools and odd building material carefully out of view of those photos, too.

And there are two inspections: a final inspection on our renovation, and the fire marshal check. We did everything up to code, so there’s no reason to expect a hang-up. The parish inspection office has been absurdly helpful and courteous at every stage, and not influenced at all by all those doughnuts Allie brought them. A few people have suggested the fire marshal might be tough, so we’ll see. We’ve treated all our inspectors with total respect, and it’s worked out so far.

Once the inspections are done, we go get our use and occupancy permit, which lets us occupy our store and use it. With that and our end of make-ready done, we will be open for business. I honestly think it’ll be sometime next week, but I’ve never applied for a use and occupancy permit, so I don’t know how long it really takes.

How’s it Look?

By the power of Grayskull, it looks awesome! It’s incredibly comfortable, the shelves are bulging with games, and the staff are gorgeous (and very humble). Don’t take my word though, several people have dropped in to peek and walked around grinning ear to ear. I’m sure they’ll comment below.

We’ll post an official date after applying for use and occupancy, when we have a realistic time frame on getting it. We’ll gear up the advertising in short order, too.

Stay tuned.

This one’s a short one, because there’s very little to explain. All of the work is nearly at its end. Our contractors are about to schedule inspections. That stuff from the last post is done. The floors will be waxed tomorrow.

I honestly keep assuming I’ve just overlooked some obvious hang-up that’ll hold us up yet again. But it’s just not there. I’ve looked everywhere! Nothing.

I don’t know precisely how long it will take to get inspections done, sign the final forms and get our papers to do business, so still no firm open date. When we do have one, trust me we’ll let you know. It won’t be a quiet affair.

There’s plenty to tell. We’ve had some awesome progress, and some very disappointing delays. What’s new, right? Here’s a run-down of what’s been done.

• The walls are totally painted.
• All the doors are hung.
• The new exit is in, and its handicap ramp is finished.
• The cabinets for our counter are in.
• The slatwall is hung (big thanks to the folks who helped Allie move it the other night!)

Our plumber is working, today I believe, on installing fixtures, and the counter guys ought to be installing the counter top if they haven’t already. Our electrician is taking far longer than expected to finish. Allie’s been talking to him, so I don’t know the reasons. He’s been good to us overall though, so I’m sure he’ll come through.

You’re Our Only Hope

Allie and I are both showing flu-like symptoms. I was running a 102 degree fever off and on since Sunday. Allie held out for five days, but it looks like it’s finally caught up to her.

We have two significant projects to get done before move-in, and as we’re both incapacitated, we’re asking help from a few awesome gamers. One of us can come out to give instructions, but in all seriousness we need as much rest as possible to be ready for move-in.

Project #1: Paint the Lockers

With lots of volunteer help, we built lockers to rent for in-store storage. They need a couple coats of paint. We have the paint, rollers, and we taped the fixtures over. Only the outside surfaces get paint, so it should be a fairly quick job.

The biggest hardship will be getting the lockers onto drop cloths. They are very heavy and have no real hand-holds. After that, it’s as easy as eating pancakes.

Project #2: Strip and Wax the Floor

This is the big one. I am told it is not really that difficult. A good friend of mine has experience, and may be generous enough to lend a hand or offer instruction. It can all be done with mops, so nobody will have to learn to wrestle one of those buffing machines.

The hard part here is dealing with all the tables and two sets of lockers, among other small odds and ends. The floor will have to be done half at a time, so the furniture can be moved to the finished half once it’s dry.

Stripping can happen any time, but I’d like to save the wax for after the electrician has hung our ceiling fans. I don’t want to risk delaying his work any more than it already has been.

If you can help with either of these jobs, please email me at jeremy@plus1gaming.com with the subject “Call for Help Volunteer.” Include what times and days you can be available, and if you have a preference of projects to work on. Please also include a phone number we can reach you, just in case.

Next Steps

Once the fixtures and counter are in, and the floors are waxed, we rent a U-Haul truck and move all our furniture and inventory out of storage and into action. We still can’t pin down a date, because we’d probably be wrong. Everything takes much longer than it seems it should. But it’s hard to not get excited when we’re this close.

Thanks everyone. Good gaming.

The drywall is in (!!!). It looks like we ran into the holiday slump, which means most of our contractors are on vacation, including our painters. Our electrician is still working this week, putting in fixtures.

So what’s left? Painting of course, and the finishers are handling an exit ramp and our counters. The electrician will probably have fixtures left to do after Christmas, and we’ll need to put in the plumbing fixtures. Electrical and plumbing will have final inspections. Then there’s a final inspection once all construction is done. And we’ll need to set up furniture, inventory, etc.

It’s pretty likely we’ll open in early January. I’m honestly frustrated at how long it’s taken, and I know a lot of you folks are, too. I mean, we missed Christmas!

But I am not in the least bit discouraged. +1 Gaming is going to be amazing. Allie and I are putting everything into this store. We’re looking at drawing in new customers from all over, trying new kinds of games, and making our shared hobby as approachable as possible. We don’t want some quiet little shop where we can play our favorite games. We want to put gaming on the map in New Orleans.

So by all means get frustrated at all the delays, but don’t get discouraged. All this nonsense will be a distant memory before you know it, and 2011 will be the Year of the Gamer.

The Grand Opening as the planned opening event is going away. Instead, we’ll open as soon as humanly possible and plan the party after that. This way we don’t have to stake our hopes and reputations on stuff that is by and large not under our absolute and merciless subjugation.

Not those plumbers.

What led to this absurd state of affairs? Plumbers.

You may recall some issues with a diagram. It all got straightened out in time for Thanksgiving to halt work until the following Monday. That’s what would have happened, had our plumber not had an out-of-town emergency that week.

No problem, right? Emergencies happen, and he’s been pretty excellent otherwise. We called a national plumbing company reputed for speed to just get it done already. They did the work, dragged their feet getting to the inspector’s office, and finally got it inspected last Wednesday.

And failed.

We should have our new inspection today, after which we can schedule the structural inspection. That puts drywall probably sometime next week. There’s various other finishing work to be done, including electrical and plumbing fixtures, not to mention our rush to assemble shelves and subsequently stock them. Plus a final inspection.

So yeah, December 18 isn’t reasonable at this point.

No new dates this time. Clearly our dates are jinxed. We’ll simply do everything possible to open as soon as possible, and let you know when that will be. Then we can plan a party.

Thank you everyone who’s helped and given us your patience and support. You are all fantastic, and also the reason Allie and I are still pumped (maybe even a little stoked) about opening. We will keep you updated.

If you want the harrowing tale, click below.

The short version of what happened is oh God I am so tired. The long version is marginally more interesting.

Many of you may have seen our desperate pleas for a plumbing riser diagram (or isometric diagram). Basically, our plumber should have been done on Friday, but the parish decided they wanted this diagram. So our plumber needed to wait and ensure his work matched the diagram our architect would surely whip up in short order.

Except our architect didn’t know what to do with it. He didn’t know what the various sizes and components were in the plumbing works. I’m not totally clear on the details, but the architect and plumber had some kind of miscommunication where they were each waiting on the other for information. After some calls to the parish, we got the required diagrams waived thanks to the small scope of work. By the time it was untangled, the Thanksgiving holiday was upon us, and we’d lost a full week.

Our plumber returns in style, to finish all the work today no matter how long that takes. He has been extremely generous with us. And speaking of awesome, the parish has defied all government stereotypes and been extraordinarily helpful and speedy. Our finishers are already moving insulation in to hit the ground running once the inspections are done.

That’s the news. Obviously I wish there were some way to speed things up. But take heart! The opening is less than three weeks away! It’s been a completely absurd process, but the end is right around the corner. That still excites me.

And the sign is up! They’re actually re-doing it to get the gold border, but they put this up for now to make sure we had a sign for our opening.

So what happened to November 20? The architect promised less than two weeks; he took five. The permitting office was glad to report a slow period, so our permit should go through with the quickness – in about a week. That’s a week from last Friday, putting approval on November 19. After which we’d still need an inspection, drywall … all that other stuff.

We’ve made a couple friends there, and our architect has been talking with them non-stop, so it may actually go through faster than a week. But still, all that other stuff. Plus, Thanksgiving pops up in the middle somewhere.

So the new deal is, our first day of business will be as soon as freaking possible. We’ll announce it here and on Facebook, naturally, so by all means come party early. On December 4 we’ll have a proper ribbon cutting, and we’re pulling together some folks to run demos for a few popular games (let us know if you’re interested). It’ll be the perfect day to bring curious friends and family, or check out a new game for yourself. We can even set you up a gift registry.

Special orders are still open, too. We’ll try to get anything you order now in time for opening day.

We have ten days to:

• add two sink water lines
• add a few more electric sockets
• put in a rear exit, plus a couple other small construction details
• get a first inspection
• do drywall and painting
• move in furniture and set up equipment
• stock inventory
• get a final inspection
• live, and not die

Most of this will happen in tandem. Our contractors are very skilled at not tripping over each other at this point, so there’s that. The first inspection is a sort of blockade, denying passage of work from one side to the other.

The upcoming Terrain Day will most likely be the last chance to help before opening. The work listed above is either contractor territory or for privileged eyes only, mainly due to the presence of inventory. With all the help we’ve gotten so far (which amazes me on a daily basis, thank you), it’s less about not trusting you and more about not putting you in liability’s desperate, sweaty grip.

That’s the news for now. We will keep you posted, as we have time between feverishly working and losing consciousness for shrinking periods of the night.