Monday (Tuesday) Rambles

Well, hello there!  How was your Derby?  Did your horse win?  If so, will you take me to lunch?  My horse didn't win.  Well, sort of.  I didn't really have a horde, but I did draw one in the Peddlers Mall Derby pool. Still, I didn't win.

Horses aside, there are some recent other winners of a sort who need to be congratulated:

Good blog friend Roger just celebrated ten years of his blog!  It's even more amazing when you consider that he actually manages to blog every single day!

Linda at A La Carte recently became a grandma for the second time.

Shara just expanded her booth space at one of her flea markets.  Long may she sell!

Distressed Donna also recently had a blogiversary.  I'll have some more to say about that in a longer post.

I'd also like to recommend a really good recent read at Things I Find in the Garbage, probably the best trash-picking blog out there.  I have to admit, he's got me checking to see when move out day at the local colleges is.  Free stuff is free stuff, after all.  I like this post because he touches on the issues of consumption and its environmental impacts, which are topics that I roll around in my head from time to time as they relate to re-selling.   There's a post for me in all of this that has needed to be written for a while now.  Maybe I'll finally get around to it now.

The post at TIFITG reminds me of the time that Keith and I were moving out of the apartment we had been in for nine years and into the house.  Our apartment was close to the University of Louisville, so there were a lot of students living in our complex, as well as the surrounding apartment buildings.  When we had gotten down to the things we did not want to take with us, we took three or four carloads to Goodwill.  That left some large items that we didn't really have room to haul in the car.  I had some boards and cinder blocks I was using as bookshelves and an old desk that was too small for my needs.  Instead of tossing them, we left them sitting beside the dumpster.  I figured that one of the students in the area might want them.  They were gone before we pulled out of the parking lot of the last time.  I guess the relationship between students and the trash goes both ways!

There wasn't a Mazda shot this weekend because we simply didn't have time to do it.  Keith had an afternoon commitment that meant we had to unload stuff quickly and get moving.  Let me tease you just a bit with the finds in anticipation of the full reveal tomorrow:

Croquet mallets all in a row

Painted child's chair

Audaciously ugly lamp.

That's what the tag I made for the lamp says!

Despite being Derby, there were a lot of yard sales going on.  This was largely due to the rain last Saturday, which cancelled lots of sales.  We hit the annual Derby street sale which is held by several dealers and their friends not far from our house.  Stuff is always plentiful and prices are generally good.  I was a little disappointed that the one guy that always has fun smalls had nothing I was interested in.

One of the sales I wanted to hit did not seem to be happening, but that just made more time for what turned out to be one of the best sales I've been to in a while.  Tons of vintage toys and really good prices.  Despite the fact that I had to work around a couple of guys and their constant eBay searches (Arrgh!), I got a lot of good stuff at this one.  I'll have pics of the finds tomorrow.

It was also a fun walk down memory lane.  There were so many toys and books there that I had as a kid!  I love it when that happens.  I heard the seller talking to one of the shoppers, and it turns out that she had conducted her father's estate sale about six or so years ago, which I had attended.  He ran a print and bookbinding shop, and there were massive amounts of all kinds of printed material at the sale.  I got a nice sized stack of vintage romance comic books and a bunch of religious tracts a that sale, which is why I remembered it.

Of course, the real highlight of the day was Free Comic Book Day.  I had planned to visit four shops, but only made it to two.  The reason?

 
Well, there were big crowds, which meant long lines.  But the sales were worth it!  I'll have more on that in a few days.  I also managed to get a hefty stack of the FCBD books.

I missed out on a couple of the ones I wanted, but I had the chance to get a few other titles, so I did.  You know me and free.  I'll end up passing most of them on in some way or another.

I did see something disturbing at one store.

"The Dark Avenger of the Night is not sweet and fluffy!"

My brother is planning to come up for a visit next week.  I am really excited for that.  I can hardly wait!  We don't get to see each other often enough, so we really have a good time when we're together.  I've got a lot to do to get the house ready for his visit, though.

Booth sales were actually good for Derby Weekend.  I had strong days on both Oaks (Friday) and Derby (Saturday).  I'm hoping that this is a good sign for the rest of the month.  I was working the other day when another vendor gave me a dining table, an end table and some other stuff she didn't want to move out of her space.  You know me and free!  I took it all, even the broken down pressboard writing desk that was ready for the trash.  I put the desk in my booth with a "free" sign on it and it was gone by the weekend.  Never hurts to repay the "free karma."

On that note, I'll say "Bye-Bye!"


   

Couple of Quick Updates

In brief:

Had treatment #2 on this new drug yesterday.  Infusion went smoothly.

I'm still in love with my Purple Power Port. (ENGAGE!)

We forgot to get pics this time.  Later on, Keith asked if I thought that meant we were getting to used to this whole deal.

Docs think everything is going fine.  They disagree with my PCP about my thyroid levels.  Blood sugar is slowly coming under control.

After two more treatments, I'll be scanned again.

Nurse who drew blood from the port for labs dripped saline all over my arm and didn't even notice.

Center was backed up yesterday---bad.  Waited over two hours to get seen by docs before treatment. 

Worst part of wait was listening to folks gripe.  Wanted to lean to woman next to me and say "Patient waiting is best done quietly."  This is what books and puzzle magazines are for.

Glad Keith was with me.

Talked to a young dude (20's) and his mom.  He started treatment with the chemo I did way back when.  Kind of gave him heads up on stuff.

Feel okay--just a little tired.

Weekend yard sales look good for Derby day.  Several cancelled sales from last week rescheduled.  Bring it!

Free Comic Book Day will only be two days at favorite shop instead of a week as in past.  Bummer.  Sale they are running those two days kind of makes up for it.  Kinda.

That's it for now.  See ya!

Monday Rambles

I am about to utter blasphemy.  Gasp!

I wish that damn horse race would hurry up and get here so I can go back to selling shit.  I'm freaking dying here!  Sheesh!

At least, Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday.  I am planning to go to four different comic shops.  Yay!

I made the mistake the other day of turning on the bathroom faucet a little so that Chiquito could play in the water and I could have some peace while I did my business meditated on world affairs.  Now he expects it every time some one goes in the bathroom.  Sigh!

Apparently, this is the day I end every short little thought or paragraph with an exclamation of some type.  Oh Boy!

That last one was sarcasm, if you couldn't tell.  Really?

That was more of a question than an exclamation.  Oops!

Okay, I'll stop now.  This might be a good time to remind everyone that these posts are called "Monday Rambles" for a reason.

I go back tomorrow for treatment #2.  I still have a few rashy patches, so I'll ask about a cream for them.  (Thanks, Joy for that good idea!)  The biggest problem I'm having is this drug is playing havoc with my blood sugar.  My primary care doctor and I are trying to get that back under control, but it's tough.   My thyroid levels are also low, which is another effect of this medicine.  I guess I'll be going on something for that.

It rained most of Saturday morning, but there were a good handful of indoor sales, so we pressed on.  I even remembered the Mazda shot.  I spent Sunday trying to pull my booths back from the brink of disaster.  I'm probably going back today to finish up.  I might light one of my Saint Jude candles when I am there.  Couldn't hurt.  I wonder who the patron saint of re-sellers is?

Seriously, I've had one good sales day in the past week.  I'm still selling stuff every day, so that's something.  It also looks like I'll at least make the low end of my monthly goals, although it was doubtful for a moment.  I just hate to see all this good stuff and treasures sitting around unpurchased.  Well, Derby is Saturday, so maybe things will pick up after that.

Also, I had a good day at Goodwill last week:

Hey Bay-bee!

I've never found one of those mouse banks in such good shape before.  You can hardly tell for that mess of red hair, but he even still has his hat.  Usually, they're naked and beat up and the seller wants one of your kidneys for them.

I'm becoming rather fond of the Southern Indiana Goodwills.  They rotate the colors of their tags, which means there's always a color that's half-off.  Small furniture is usually well-priced.  (There are exceptions to this.)  Plus, they have a frequent buyer program which allows you to get your card stamped for every ten dollars you purchase.  After ten stamps, you get ten dollars off!   The Kentucky stores could take a few lessons here, I think.  The Saint Vincent de Paul stores here do the rotating color discount thing, and I think the Goodwills might lose out on some business because of it.  I know I prefer the SVDP stores over the GW's on this side of the river.

I'm planning on taking it easy this week after my treatment. The weather is supposed to be lovely all week, so I think I'll do some sitting out back with a book or two.  That sounds nice to me.  If I remember, I'll let you know what I'm reading.

It's Coming!

A week from tomorrow is Thunder Over Louisville, the big air and fireworks show that kicks off the Kentucky Derby Festival.  It's also not one of the best days in this town to have a yard sale.

Two weeks from tomorrow is the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon, where a bunch of people run 26 miles in honor of horses who run 1 1/4 miles.  Makes sense to me.  Of course, the horses do have to carry people.

Three weeks from tomorrow, those people-carrying horses will do their thing.  And this town will be dead.  No traffic.  No lines anywhere.  It's the best day to go shopping.  It's also the worse day to be a reseller.  And not a very good day for yard sales, either, even though there's an annual sale not far from our house that I consider to be the "official" yard sale season opener!  It's always good.  Several dealers unloading their winter overstock.  Very much vintage.  Very much bargains.

At the same time, something else special will be taking place.  FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

It's unfortunate timing that this event takes place on Derby Day, but since it's a national event, they really don't care what else happens in Louisville.  I guess.  One of the shops here usually compensates for the Derby conflict by extending the event the whole week.  No word on whether or not they will do that again this year, but I plan to make time to pop over two-three times during the week if they do.

To clear up one important bit of information:  All the comics are not free.  But specially published comics released just for this day are available for free at local comic book shops.  If you have never done this before, that's an important piece of knowledge to have so you don't make an idiot out of yourself in the shop.  Or get arrested when you try to carry non-free stuff out of the store.

FBCD started several years ago, right around the time the first big budget super-hero movies were rolling out of the studios.  It was an attempt to tie these movies back to their roots in the comics by giving people who were not familiar with comics a chance to sample a bunch of them without risking any money.  You owuld be surprised how many people are not even aware that comics are still being published.  Of course, since they're only available in specialty shops any more, you can't blame the general populace for being out of the loop.  There's something about being a nerd that breeds insularity.  But that's a post for another day....

Overall, it's a lot of fun.  Many stores have special sales or events like costume contests.  There are always lots of kids getting comics, and that makes me really happy.  Heck, seeing kids read anything these days make me really happy.  (Am I getting old?) 

I don't buy new comics any more.  I just can't afford them.  But I still love them.  I get excited every year when FCBD rolls around.  Besides the fact that I like free stuff.  (Who doesn't?)  It just makes me feel good to see excitement and interest building in something I have loved my whole life.

You don't have to be a middle-aged (I'm still middle-aged, right?) geeky dude to enjoy FCBD.  If you have kids, grandkids, teens in your life that you are trying to help develop the lifelong reading habit, this is a good place to start.  Teachers get comics for their students to read as a reward for doing their work.  There are always FCBD books geared for kids, younger readers, and usually there's a wordless book or two for non-readers.  Do you know a budding artist?  Show them how they can tell stories with art!  Heck, get a couple for yourself.  You might find something you like. 

So what am I thinking about getting on this most wonderful of days?

There's going to be some vintage stuff in this one, which mixes older reprints with newer stuff.  I'm hoping the older stories aren't ones I already have.  Good old-fashioned swashbuckling adventure.

Every so often, someone tries to do something with the super-hero characters that Archie used to publish in the 40's.  This is the latest attempt.  I might pick it up out of curiosity.  Oddly, Archie doesn't seem to be doing a FCBD comic this year with the regular Archie gang.

I don't know if the manga boom is still going as strong as it was several years ago, but I find it helpful to (try) and stay current with what's available and popular, in case I run into it at a yard sale somewhere.

Cleopatra in Space.  What's not to love?  Looking for heroic tales with a female protagonist for a little girl in your life?  This might be a nice one to try.

I'm kinda curious about this one.

I love the Tick.  That is all.

Rabbits and other animals racing cars?  I gotta see this one.

I'll look at this one for the nostalgia vibe, if nothing else.  Every three to five years, the big publishers completely restart all their super-hero titles in the name of being "current."  What they actually do is create an impenetrable maze of titles and stories that someone coming straight from the theater looking to get some more of the cool stuff they saw in the movie gets totally lost in.  I'm not sure this will help that situation, but it could be fun.

This is the way to get someone to try something new.  Put something they already know, in this case Yu-Gi-Oh, in the free book with it.

I love music in just about all its forms and I loved last year's freebie for this title.  Lots of detailed information inside.  Some day, I would like to actually own the hard cover volumes of this series, so I can read the full story.

Another real curiosity.  This was a book from the late 90's put out by a publisher that didn't last very long.  It feels like someone is either trying to cash in on Neil Gaiman's name, even though he had very little to do with these comics, or there's a weird nostalgia boom I don't know anything about.  You can walk into just about any comic shop in America and find a copy of the original comic in the 25 or 50 cent boxes, so I don't know why someone is doing a free version..  I was never more mildly interested in the whole concept, so I'm going with the freebie.  It might be fun.  Who knows?

Good comics for kids.  Teen Titans GO! is about the only thing I care to watch on Cartoon Network these days, and it's wearing a bit thin.  But a Scooby story with Batman and Wonder Woman?  I am so there.

This is one of my favorite publishers.  I always get their FCBD stuff.

This just looks interesting.

I haven't read a TMNT book in years.  Not since the original black and white series, in fact.  I might pick this up for the heck of it.

When the day actually comes, I may not actually get all of these.  Not every store will have every book, for one thing.  And some stores set limits on how many you can take.  (They do have to pay for them, so I understand that.)  I'll come out with at least a few of these babies in the end.  And probably some other stuff.  Most shops have killer sales running on FCBD, and I need to get some comic bags and other supplies.  I'll also be on the look out for cheap back issues for me as well.

You can find out more about Free Comic Book Day at their official web site.  The site includes a locator to help you find a comic shop near you, plus information on all the FCBD titles.  There are many more than what I've shown here.  They include the covers for all the titles, plus a few page preview to check out.  I didn't read any of the previews, because I want to be surprised on the first Saturday in May.

I am so looking forward to this.