Paint it Up!

Each week we create a list of tasks to be accomplished within the seven days ... one of last weeks was to have the interior painting complete. Well, unfortunately, clean-up from the re-sanding of the cement foundations lasted a few days longer than anticipated and painting didn't begin until Friday.
To find cardboard to protect the floor from drips (remember our floor is a piece of art all in itself!) we went to an abandoned train car area where people sell (or buy) cardboard boxes. For about 12 cents, you can buy a kilo of broken-down cardboard.
Since we don't have pictures of this Ukrainian experience, you'll have to use your imagination ... you walk through an abandoned field, littered with garbage, to a three story brick structure - not quite sound enough to be called a building - where you then make the business transaction.
While we were there a man and woman came with 13 rolls of old wall-paper ... Soviet era old. The couple looked emaciated from drug addiction - and could barely carry on a conversation with the head-rolls and twitches. They said they'd sell us the wall-paper for 80 cents a yard to use as floor covering. We weren't interested - and they lowered the price - 80 cents total!
"He needs some whiskey," the woman explained. "Six - rhp (or 80 cents) will get him what he needs."
So we bought the wall-paper.
When we returned to Bubbles we told the workers we changed our minds, and instead of painting the walls, we wanted them to put up wall-paper.
They were visibly up-set - so much time and effort into texturing, sanding, and stabilizing the drywall just to put up wall-paper!?
They were very pleased to hear we were kidding. For now our 80 cent Soviet wall-paper covers the floors, and the interior painting continues ... a top the "to-be-completed" list for this week.

Friend$

Turns out, more than friendship, what many people we interact with in Lviv, outside of Bubbles, want is money ... sometimes LOTS of money. Here's an abbreviated, slightly edited, version of a recent conversation:
Him: "I can see you are good people. I have a great business that I'm going to let you in on, where you can make lots of money, and not do any work."
Us - we also have a great business with the potential for lots of money, but we know it requires LOTS of work: "uh-huh?"
Him: "I know a guy who is starting a construction business ... making luxury homes in Slovakia. All you have to do is give me $5 MILLION U.S. dollars ... there's no risk - just BIG profits."
Us: "First, we don't have five million dollars to give you..."
Him: "But you know wealthy Americans - and can get it!"
Us: "Second, we have never been to Slovakia. Third we aren't into luxury home building. Finally, we're busy with our own business and don't have time for this. Sorry, we're not interested."
Him: "Okay, okay, I know $5 million dollars is a lot ... but that is okay because I have another business, a factory, that you can invest in and I only need $300,000 U.S. dollars from you."
Us: "I'm sure there are lots of ways to make money in Ukraine, but we are focusing our efforts on self-serve and full-service laundromats. Sorry, we're not your guy. But, to help you out, if you have a detailed business plan, we're happy to review it and send it along to someone else who might be interested."
Him: "No, no. You - I want you to be my partner. I like your family and I want you to make the profits. The only risk is that if you don't give me the money in two days time, someone else will, and you'll miss out on all the profits."
Us - trying to maintain friendship, and yet be honest and firm that we really aren't interested: "Sorry, not interested. Leave us alone."
Him - perhaps desperate, perhaps a bit crazy: "Okay, but I will stop by your store at random times, give you out-dated appraisals on the nasty processed cake factory and dessert machines, call you day and night reminding you what great friends we are, and that this is a BIG chance you are missing out on. I'll even give you my house as collateral (worth a fraction of the sum asked for), and see you at church, so you can't get away from me!"
Us: "Awesome, thanks. It's so great making friends here."

Zoriana

Meet Zoriana: soon-to-be manager, director, and any other title she wishes of soon-to-be Bubbles.  Her list of accolades exceed our own - fluent in six languages, conversant in more ... she holds a MBA from the University of Chicago (where she studied American laundromats, of all things), and most importantly, she co-founded Atlantis, Poland's first self-serve laundromat.  We are thrilled to have Zoriana heading the Bubbles team - she is bright, has our vision, and recognizes the value of offering "clean clothes - clean life" to the people of Lviv.  Plus, she assures us that she looks forward to returning to her homeland and Lviv, where her mother and brother still live.  Hurrah for Zoriana! A true 'silver-lining' in the frustration of not opening sooner.

And, not to be overlooked, Zoriana brings with her the Dexter distributorship for all of eastern Europe and Russia ... another feather in the Bubbles cap for years to come!

Still true to the Red, White, and Blue

"You must be glad to be safe in Ukraine and not in America," several people commented to us today.We didn't have the heart to tell them that Washington D.C. and the hurricane threats were about as far removed from where we lived in San Francisco as the far side of Siberia is from where we are now in Lviv. 

And even still, yes, we still miss America!

When to Wear What?

It's not so much that people in San Francisco don't, or wouldn't, wear these things ... it's just that we're not used to seeing them at 10 in the morning, in a children's park area.

The back of the shirt is a really popular feature these days...

And while we're sure this dress looks great at a cocktail party, it was a bit surprising to see it mid-morning on the ice-rink with the kids.

Of course, if you're not sure you are wearing the right thing - just change! We don't mind.

And to simplify life, the one-piece, romper, or whatever else you like to call it, is a quick grab-and-go option.

No need to coordinate - you just step in and you're ready to go!

Perspective

 The other day, while driving by seemingly endless apartment buildings like these, we had a moment of reflection. Each window, or two, represents an apartment - possibly a family - and each apartment (to say nothing of each individual) probably has some current issue or problem they're dealing with. Some problems may be life-threatening, some of those people living in these massive former Soviet-style apartments may struggle with loneliness, or depression, to say nothing of financial and physical heart-ache. I guess we just had a moment, a pause, where we stepped back from our own frustrations of being behind schedule, and realized - it's not so bad. You might say our problems seemed a bit small in comparison to the myriad of issues and problems individuals face across the globe ... or in our current home-town Lviv.

Slowly but surely ...

Good news is the gas pipeline is in and hooked up to the dryers. 

The not so good news is we're still waiting on the gas pipeline to the building and permission to turn on the gas. 

But we're making progress.

Another plus - the industrial iron is hooked up and ready to run - now all we need is a store to start processing those hotel orders.

The heater piping is in place, and these air-vents (that we were not anticipating) are now a part of the store. We were more than a little upset when we saw Abilit put these large stop-light style vents in the store, they were never previously discussed. But everyone who's seen them says they like them, and that it adds another 'industrial' element to the store ... so for now they stay. And the Bubbles chandelier boxes are wired, and cut for lighting.

At this point we are just looking forward to opening the doors for business and giving the people an option beyond line-drying. Not to sound too altruistic, since we are doing this to make a profit, but after living here for three months, we are personally ready to have dryer dried towels rather than crunchy line-dried. Far too many hours a week are consumed with washing, hanging, rotating, re-hanging, and waiting on wet clothes to dry - not to mention if there is humidity or a slight summer shower, clothes (especially jeans - and we all know there's not a shortage of denim in Ukraine) can take days to dry. How do people manage in the winter?!

What was lost, is now found

 Two of our stolen bushes have been returned. We have two more we're still waiting on.

Remember the Babushka who took swept the cement into her purse ... well, we're pretty sure our bushes also grace her garden ... perhaps in recently constructed cement planters.  We put up a sign reminding people it's illegal to steal, and that there is an outdoor video surveillance camera.  She stops by the store regularly, and during a recent visit she tentatively asked how long the video surveillance cameras have been working. "A few weeks." The consternation showed in her eyes. "Do you know who took those bushes then?" she inquired. "Yes we do," we said, though previously we didn't know ... it was like Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale-Heart. Her eyes widened. Then she put her fingers to her lips and with glistening eyes, said "shhhhh."

Speaking of the bushes, we overheard a conversation as a middle-aged couple walked by and saw the sign reminding people that taking something that doesn't belong to you is stealing. The woman remarked how terrible it was that people steel bushes. The man scoffed. "Why would you plant so many? No one needs that many bushes! Of course people take them." After 2o years of independence the former communistic and socialistic values ingrained by USSR government have not worn free from many. Never the less, couldn't a socialist/communist argue that allowing the bushes to stay put in a public place actually allows for more people to enjoy them - rather than in a private individual garden? So, essentially from both ethical viewpoints, the bushes should remain where we planted them.

How Firm A Foundation

For the last 10 days we have been re-leveling the concrete foundations for the washing machines. We realized the machines weren't level and properly spaced. This was a bit surprising, since we sent the construction team, Abilit, and our worker in charge of this project to Poland to take scrupulous notes and get an accurate visual of the exact way to install the washers. Unbeknownst at the time, the worker (and good friend for over a decade) who oversaw the foundation pouring added an extra couple of inches of cement to the foundation, after the original was dry. He says he just wanted to make it look smoother.

We agree that aesthetics are important ... but level, properly functioning machines trump a smooth visual. Fortunately, in a way, the finished product wasn't level and we took off the machines to sand down the cement. Well, as soon as we started sanding, chunks of cement started flying. It seems our worker, friend, self-proclaimed construction guru, didn't prime the dry cement before he laid the "smooth" layer ... causing the foundation to be not so solid, and the top couple of inches to chip off like peanut brittle. It's fortunate that this incident came to light before opening the store, because within a couple of weeks of routinely running the machines, the top weak layer of cement that was not properly bound to the foundation would have given way, and we would have had to close up shop to fix the problem.

After a week of sanding, drilling, re-pouring, sanding, and re-drilling, the machines are being installed correctly. If this store were the end all, we'd be pretty downtrodden at this point - every day there are new set-backs and disappointments. But this store is just the beginning! and our little Ukrainian empire of laundromats is going to take off ... hotel contracts are waiting to be signed, future locations are identified, the next machine order is in process ... and Bubbles will have a firm foundation! 

Denim Denim Everywhere!

We don't pretend to be fashion savvy, but we have noticed that jean is in this summer. 

We won't comment on each outfit ... but you get the picture.

the cut-out dress

the inner-thigh cut-out

the one-piece

the one-piece

the Boots

Firefighter Approval

SMC Firefighters 1921

While sitting at work in San Mateo last spring, a city firefighter came to the office. He was dressed in full firefighter apparel, had the truck in the parking lot, and proceeded to explain the various ways in which our office was not up to code. Then he handed over a paper that said we owed a specific sum of money - to be paid on the spot. The whole thing was a little amiss ... Clearly the owner of the building, not the tenants, should pay for any such violations, and why the urgency, on the spot payment? When we suggested this to the said firefighter, he got a little uneasy and said it would be better if we paid right now, and signed the form. We didn't. He left quickly. We looked up the issue, and sure enough, it was a scam. While there was a geographic area in San Mateo that the various precautionary codes applied to, our office was well outside that territory.

Lviv Fire Department

That was one experience that set our fears of Ukrainian corruption at bay a bit. We realized no matter where you do business (Lviv or San Mateo) someone is out to make a buck on the less suspecting.

Our construction company Abelit tried to convince us today that our current dryer set-up would never pass the Lviv firefighter approval - we needed to drill a hole in the roof behind the dryers for ventilation ... more time, and more money. We already know (an expensive lesson) that this construction firm is not always straight forward and certainly have their best interest in mind at all times - more work, more time, more money.

So, we brought in the big guns and had the Lviv fire department walk through and get it from the horses mouth - are we up to code? The verdict ... No need to drill another ceiling hole! We were right - Abelit was wrong. Great news. See, Ukraine isn't so corrupt after all ... well, at least not the firefighters.

Resumes

Stock Photo

We've interviewed many potential Bubbles employees for positions including store managers, clothes folder, delivery-driver, hotel contract and sales, and security.
Among the 100+ resumes two stand out.
Neither was offered a job, but both get the PR prize for being most memorable.
The first had a hand-written resume on napkin, much like the one in this stock image - only without bullet points.
The second had a nine-page resume detailing his work history with his nine past employers.
He explained all the reasons why every job had not worked out, and in each case, it was the unreasonable employer who had the problem.
The gentleman was only 32.

Update

Construction progress as of August 13, 2011.

After many weeks of putting in ALL new pipes in the basement of the building, the water company has given us the green-light.

Our beautiful pipes, water tanks water storage containers  heaters  and such, all in place and ready for business. 

Still to do: a few more pipes, and filters. Check.

The machines made the long journey, cleared customs, passed certifications, and are finally in place.  

We still need to build the center box between the washers to cover the pipe - but the ceiling "box" above is ready for the assembly of the most amazing glass-bubble chandelier ever known.

I'm mildly in lust with these machines ... they look sharp. Here's an assignment - find a local laundromat with Dexter machines and check them out. You'll see why we went through the effort of importing them. They're stunning. Not to mention they're eco-friendly, energy efficient, and have the best warranty/service history of any other industrial machinery on the market. They are wonderful.

All our electrical work is in place, and ready to go.

The custom double-glass-door entry way was finished today. 

All the folding room, office, industrial iron room, bathrooms (yes, two - since employees and customers can't share), and every other required room is dry-walled, puttied, sanded, and ready to paint.

We're close ... really close. But there are still a few more long days of construction, finishing touches, decor and arranging, clean-up, and governmental permissions before we open shop.
It's going to be GREAT!

Bubbles Interior - August 13, 2011