Category: ebay

Tues. April 20, 2021 – special day for the dopey, not for me

Cool and sunny, scattered showers. That’s what we had yesterday. Beautiful blue sky, sun, and the occasional spatter of rain for a few minutes.

I made my dropoff at the auctioneer. He doesn’t want the second load today as he’s full up. I will be able to drop off a couple of big lab microscopes Thursday or Friday, if I can find the eyepieces. I’ve got several bins for the other auctioneer, and settlement to do for my last auction with her. She has a bunch of stuff already for the next auction, but I’ve got more waiting… I think I’m going to have to do some ebay listings because I’ve got more than anyone wants.

I picked up my new rent house fridge, so I hope to install it today too. Didn’t get in touch with the tenants yesterday but she works from home so it shouldn’t be an issue.

Then work the list some more. I am building a little bit of momentum that I want to keep going.

All I can say about the news is, there are now several places in the US with Army NG manning perimeters and providing security. If that doesn’t give you chills, I don’t know what will. And did anyone else notice how the local PD was outfitted for the search for their erstwhile colleague who went all shooty all of a sudden? See the pic of the one with the shotgun strapped to his side? It was stuck in his belt and strapped up under his arm. Pistol and rifle completed the loadout. So the PD has short barreled shotties in holsters and as part of their load out to make entry now? The guys were in full battle rattle. Cops. Cops that are undergoing a very strong selection pressure at the moment. Who’s gonna be left and what will their attitude be in a few months?

Keep stacking.

n

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Thur. April 15, 2021 – normally tax day but not this year

Warm and wet. Like yesterday. Only with more wet. Yesterday was classic Houston weather, in that many areas got no rain, but some got a lot. The clouds and rain seemed to chase me from south east, through downtown, and out to the west. That’s the opposite of our normal weather pattern, but that is actually what the weatherunderground.com map showed- rain blowing in from the Gulf.

Anyway, ran errands. Checked out Habitat ReStore and what used to be called the Sears Outlet looking for scratch and dent fridges. They both had some, but not what I wanted, and for too much money. Sears had some upright freezers in stock too, which was a BIG change from 6 months ago. I did pick up a Leatherman Crunch, new in package, for $2 at Habitat. Score!

My industrial auctioneer pushed me off until Monday for my drop off. They were still too full of other stuff.

I got my payment links sorted out at ebay (they changed the way they handle money, getting in the middle of everything and requiring a linked bank account) so I can receive money from ebay again. The couldn’t make the deposit to my business account work. What a charlie foxtrot. I really dislike their new scheme. Unfortunately I have a ton of stuff that is probably best listed there for a national and international customer pool. Otherwise, I’m over their nonsense and have considered just not selling with them over this change in policy. On top of everything else on my list, I have to move the Facebook Marketplace test exploration up the priority list.

Today should be rainy so I’ll do inside stuff. Lots of that to do.

And then I need to get back to stacking, because it looks like the devolution of our society and standing in the world is accelerating. Russia and China are openly sneering at us and poking us in the chest while saying ‘what are you gonna do about it?’… The leftists in our own government have removed the mask and are pushing their destructive agenda HARD. Certain violent and ignorant sections of our society are feeling their oats and looking to seize the moment. I think there will be a backlash and atrocities that will make South African Apartied look like a kid’s birthday party. I’m quite sure there will be people who decide to proactively start addressing the crime and lawlessness, and it won’t be by marching in the street and ‘demanding’ anything. The only limiting factor will be the high cost of ammo.

And that sort of thing will be disruptive as heII. So get to stacking.

n

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Tues. Mar. 30, 2021- not a completely lost day…

Cool and sunny, chance of rain. Yesterday started cold and wet but ended up very nice. Some threatening skies to the south, but nice at my house! Huge full moon glowing low in the sky at 7am when I took child one to the bus.

I didn’t enjoy the day much though. Felt “off” and went back to sleep after getting the kids out the door. Woke up a couple hours later, so dizzy I could barely walk or stand. Thankfully that passed and I just felt tired, slightly dizzy, and a little nauseous. More ‘achy’ than the day of the shot too. We’ll see how today shapes up. By all accounts, I should be over most of my symptoms soon.

Spent what was left of the day ripping DVDs to disk, poking at my linux box, and getting paperwork in order for tax preparation. I actually got things done in all three areas. The NVR is finally back. It looks like someone put the required packages back where they were, and everything installed and started running. It took a bit of google and poking at it to get my settings to look right, and get the stupid thing saving video in the right place. It looks like it’s working, and without the previous issues.

I got some of the huge pile of paper I need to go through organized too. Today I’ll do more with that. Maybe I’ll do my mileage too. That will help get us ready to file our taxes. I’ll have to actually pay my TX business taxes before we can file the Federal income taxes. No state income tax in Texas though. and some years we get a deduction for the sales tax we paid. Still a huge pain in the backside to do all the required filing and recordkeeping.

There is stuff going on in the world of finance that could be the beginning of the great unwinding, or could be just one more signpost on the way. Better minds than mine will have to decide, but it’s time to look around and pay attention to it. Decide for yourself it it’s a stumble or a fall. I’m no financial genius, and this isn’t advice, but consider taking profits if you have them. I was chatting with a young woman in the checkout lane at the Goodwill Outlet and she showed my how she uses an app called Cash App for her finances. She bought $10 of Tesla while we were standing there, with cash she got from reselling thrift store items. She gets ‘loyalty’ money from the app in bitcoin… which is also available inside the app. I didn’t have a chance to ask her if she ever sells, and what kind of reporting the app gives her for tax purposes, but consider that there are likely 10s of thousands of people just like her poking away at the market, and crypto, and that they likely have very little understanding of what’s really going on. It felt VERY much like talking to a virgin house flipper in 2008…. Be warned.

My stacking lately has been limited to items that are expensive and difficult to find locally. I feel like I’ve got a good base of the basics, and if opportunity knocks with specialty items I should answer the door. That said, waiting just 3 weeks to rotate my gasoline before hurricane season is going to hurt my wallet. My delay in replacing my truck will cost me more than if I’d bought two weeks ago. Inflation? or simple supply and demand? Who can be sure, but prices are going up around here.

If it is inflation, turning money into goods is generally a good strategy. If it goes hyper, you can’t do it fast enough. Can’t happen here? I’m sure the others who have experienced it thought the same thing.

No matter the current reason, I think it’s almost always a good idea to keep stacking (durable things, long lasting things, things you absolutely need, or things that are very easy to convert to other things). You know the drill…

nick

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Fri. Mar. 26, 2021 – weird used to intrigue me, not so much anymore…

Pleasant and cool, with sun and a breeze.  A lot like yesterday once the overcast blew out.

Spent the whole day indoors.   Kept plugging away at stuff in my office, and getting stuff ready for the auction.   Ended up rescheduling my dropoff for today when I realized I had a bunch of small items that all needed me to mess with them a bit before sending them, but that the money difference made it worthwhile.  So I cranked through a bunch of minor repairs, in between moving stuff around and doing my normal interweb things.  And poking at my NVR…  and doing the paperwork for my passport renewal… and other paperwork too.  Not what I was hoping to do but progress on a number of smaller goals.

Oh yeah, and spent an hour watching the President give a short speech and then get a tongue bath from the press.  Oh there were a couple of questions that sent him drifting off the rails, but OMG, one of them managed to sanctify him and damn Trump in the same breath.

I’ll admit there were a few times when he was saying stuff that sounded good, like actually providing a partial demographic breakdown of the illegals.  But that was mostly when he started to drift off message, and then he would just stop mid sentence and switch gears.  And there were flat out lies, misdirections, and contradictory statements following each other.

He looked less feeble than some other times, but his eyes and eyebrows are very strange, he had trouble controlling his speaking volume (considering all the practice a half century of “public service” has given him), and he needed extensive notes.  It was the longest I’ve seen him go without someone hovering near his elbow or just barely close enough to catch him if he falls.  Normally he’s got at least one person watching him like he was a toddler walking the top rail of a fence.

He played a couple of weird moments for laughs, and I don’t know if they were intended to be funny or if he just saved a gaffe.  Some of those things are being quoted without context.   I’d like to THINK he’s an affable guy, playing the fool for laughs, but I suspect that’s not what was happening.

To top it all off, he shuffles his feet like he can’t lift them normally, and he’s got a couple of weird tics that I associate with age and confusion.  I wasn’t looking to be impressed, and I wasn’t.  The whole business about whether or not he’d run next time was especially weird.    It’s like he doesn’t expect to be around for that, so why bother?  I agree with him on that.

He’s a train wreck.  Called Putin names.  Called other countries’ leaders thieves.  Promised more gun control, more government spending on stuff the private sector does better, bragged about the crusts he tossed to the peons, forgetting that it was THEIR money to start with.  Bagged on the rich, trotted out the old lines about greedy bigcorps not paying taxes, plugged the unions, all the normal playbook.  On the plus side, I didn’t have to hear Kamel laugh.

It’s getting weird out there folks.  Something’s gonna give.  And it’s a lot easier to break than build.  Get the stuff you need now, while you can, if you can.  And stack it high.

nick

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Thur. Mar. 25, 2021 – do not press the shiny red candy colored button

Cool and damp.   Maybe rain, maybe just mist.

Yesterday was cool and damp all day.  Overcast never really broke, and we had misty rain in places and at times.   Usually when it was least convenient for me.  Because it’s all about me.

Did my errands.   Dropped off stuff for sale.  Picked up some needful things.   I’ll be taking more stuff to the new auction today or tomorrow.  And I’ve got a load for the ‘industrial’ auction as well.   The other auction hasn’t worked through all the stuff I brought them already.

The pile is getting smaller, but very slowly.

Today will be spent.  One way or another, on what I hope or not, but it will be spent.  I’m hoping to get my stuff together for the auction.  I’d like to take some GS cookies to my gun store buddy.  He has been a staunch and generous supporter of the troop but this year he couldn’t afford it.  So I’m bringing him one of each as a gift.   Meatspace.  Tribe.  Network.  Friends.  Call it what you want, you need  to get you some of that.  Strengthen what you already have, look for ways to expand.  Can you help someone out?  Can you do someone a favor?  Can you buy something from them or sell them something they need?  Look for opportunities.

I’ve been adding to my stacks this week.   It feels like it’s already Friday because I’ve gotten some stuff done, despite the lost day and the aching knee.   I need to keep this pace for a couple of weeks … and maybe I’ll get caught up to where I should have been in February.

There is always more to do, more to learn, more to organize, more to fix, more to buy.  Don’t let it overwhelm or paralyze you, do something, even just the first of many small things.   Get the ball rolling.

With that in mind, I haven’t heard anything back from the electrician about the generator hookup.   I haven’t found a replacement truck yet.   And there are still lots of things to go through for my taxes.

Baby steps are still steps.

Keep stacking.

nick

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Wed. Mar. 10, 2021 – no new truck, lots of rescheduled errands

Cool and possibility of rain.   Yesterday threatened and occasionally spit, but never did rain on me.

I made one drop off, rescheduled a pick up to today, and delayed another drop off, all so I could pick up the new truck.   Well, that didn’t happen.  See yesterday’s comments for details.   I was hoping to have everything wrapped up and start getting back to normal, but instead spent at least 6 hours to get educated on what not to do.   I’ll keep looking.   In the mean time…

I’ve got to pick up the honda generator.   And I have to get it out of my truck at the far end, and store it until I can take a look at what needs fixing.   I’ve also got to do more work at my secondary.   More stuff to throw out and recycle to make room for the stuff piled up here.  Stuff is leaving the house and storage, and secondary, but not fast enough.

I’m really hoping the honda just needs basic service and cleaning up.  If I could sell it that would be a nice payday.  Worth putting some effort and time into it.  Generator and small engine repair skills pay off now, and in the future.  Non-running gennies are plentiful and cheap.   Take a shot at one… just not one from Harbor Freight.

In other news, my wife got the Moderna jab on Saturday.  Some muscle stiffness and body soreness on Sunday, but hard to tell if it was the shot or working in the garden that did it.   No other side effects yet.   I’m still not interested.   With two little kids, we shouldn’t both have the same unknown treatment, the same way the whole of senior management should never fly on the same plane.   That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Lots of stuff to do, lots of catching up.  And stacking.  Always stacking.

 

n

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Sat. Mar. 6, 2021 – no Hamfest for YOU!

Supposed to be a nice day today.   Yesterday started with light misty drizzle, got sunny and warm, and then ended with drizzle.  Don’t know yet how today will play out.  I’m cautiously optimistic.

Friday was full of the normal stuff.   I did a bit more cleaning up and putting away.

I consolidated some stored gasoline into fewer cans as I put them back in the storage cabinet.  I took the opportunity to get the water out of the cans too.   One I just stopped pouring before the water came out, the other I used my pump to suck it off the bottom of the can.   I’ve got a can dedicated to ‘dirty gas’ that collected the stuff left in the cans or pumped out.   In a pinch I can pump the gas off the top and avoid the water and sediment that settles.   Most of the time I just use it as a cleaner or hold it for disposal later.  The little hand pump has been so useful during this disaster that I am going to stock a couple more.  They’re cheap, and are a versatile tool.

Speaking of ‘cans’, I’ve had several plastic five gallon cans fail in the same way.  They are name brand cans, so it’s not a quality issue, but a design one.   The welded seam at the top of the can, in the ‘handle’ part, breaks open.   It’s hard to even tell that it isn’t sealed, and the can is still useful short term, but water and air can get in, and gas and vapor can get out through the crack.  I suspect that something in hand oils might contribute to the problem, or it could be a manufacturing issue, but they do separate.  If the can doesn’t puff up when hot, pressure is getting out somehow, and air can get back in.    Check your stored cans.   (and for this reason, I no longer buy them used to save a few bucks, because they’ve already got age on them and the clock is ticking)

The post title refers to the Greater Houston Hamfest, which was cancelled for 2021.   In 2020 it was the last public exposure I had before locking down for wuflu.  I was worried, but the swapmeet is outside, and I set up so my back was to the wind, blowing everyone else’s germs away from me.   In about 8 or 9 days it’ll be one full year of this pandemic.   Time flies and it drags.   I buy radio stuff all year with the intention of selling it on the one day at the Hamfest swapmeet in early March.  While I haven’t been buying as much radio stuff, I do still have  a bunch to sell.   I’ve talked to one of my local auction houses and he was agreeable to doing  a sale that featured radio gear, sometime this month.     I might sell stuff, but I won’t have the chance to spend the day chatting with other hams, and seeing some people I only  see at the Hamfest.  They’ve scheduled 2022 for March 4th and 5th.

As others have pointed out, the lockdowns have severely limited out ability to meet in groups, which has some benefits for an oppressive government, or a larger group that wants to limit the spread of information or ideas.   Without the ability to get together in an unmonitored environment and compare notes, the lies and lies by omission can spread and ‘soak in’ to the culture to the point where they are very hard to challenge or dispute.  When all your interactions with people are mediated (literally) they are also more easily controlled.   Consider too, that when people gather in larger groups, or public social environments, they are exposed to a much wider variety of beliefs, ideas, and experiences than if they are sitting at home on a computer.  I don’t think it was intentional at the beginning, but I think too many ‘powers that be’ realized the advantages and shaped policy and reality to their own ends.   This is especially visible in the inconsistency in applying the policies.   This activity is verbotten, but this identical situation is allowed if it’s something we WANT people to do.

There will never be a ‘return to normal’.   There never has been, and there really can’t be, because we are changed by our experiences.  Start planning and prepping for what comes NEXT.    Stacking will probably help.

 

nick

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Fri. Mar. 5, 2021 – another week gone by

Cool and maybe wet.   The national forecast has us in a possible rainy zone, but the edge of the front is very close by.   It’s been my observation that when the forecast has us on the edge, we don’t get the weather.  I guess we’ll see.

Yesterday was very nice.  Shirt sleeves and shorts weather with a gorgeous blue sky.   Which was nice for my walk home from the auto repair place.   It looks like my Expedition’s problems are deeper than a bad pressure sensor or worn out battery.  My repair guy will call me later with pricing and options.   It’s always something, and while my gut tells me there is a lot of life left in the truck, and I don’t want the expense and risks of replacing it, I also don’t want to keep throwing good money after bad.   I already put $4k into the motor last time and was pretty sure that was the last I wanted to spend on it.   Clean low miles ’13 and ’14 Expeditions are $10k to $20K depending on miles and trim.  New they are $60K to $80K… so that is VERY unlikely to happen.

My day will also involve some errands, probably cleaning up at my secondary IF it doesn’t rain.   I’ve got a dozen bins worth of stuff for auction if I can get the auctioneer to take delivery… she said she’d take a bunch, and I’ve got a bunch.  I’d love to get that started.

Looking at my stuff in auctions that closed last night, well,  it ain’t gonna pay for any gold coins.   I am starting to get concerned by the lower prices that stuff is bringing.  Not just my stuff, but stuff I’d be buying if I wasn’t already full up.  There seems to be a trend downward over the last few weeks.   I expect that as things in the economy get tighter and tighter, there will come a point where buyers just stop buying anything other than necessities.   They may continue buying daily living items, and shopping for bargains on ‘stuff’, but eventually there won’t be any  more money for ‘extras’.  I need to unload a bunch more stuff before that happens.

Still slowly chipping  away at about 10 different things at the same time.   It’s slow, but varied, and that helps is a couple of ways.  Just showing progress on some of the projects helps with domestic bliss.   And I can shift focus when I  find myself bumping into physical limits more often than I used to.

Today I was walking on eggshells because of spasms and something in my back that was “right on the edge” of becoming something really bad.  Simple bending movements were causing discomfort and apprehension all out of line with the actual exertion.   I’ve learned that I absolutely don’t want to aggravate that sort of thing.  So instead of doing a bunch of physical stuff, I was very careful and limited my movements.   Hopefully that was enough to be back to normal today.

There are several prominent bloggers in the ‘liberty sphere’ part of the web that have been hammering on physical fitness as a prep.  I’m not going to do ruck marches or calisthenics, or even jog, but it’s clear that I need to do something additional and that my normal activity level is not enough to overcome the effects of aging.  Anything effective takes time, and time is in short supply.  But clearly I’m losing time in other places, and don’t feel good while doing so, so it would be better to spend the time upfront and get the benefit of being in better shape too.  Knowing and doing are two different things however.

It’s always something.

Meanwhile, I’m organizing stacks, and adding to them in specific areas, mainly food and medical supplies.   I need to rebalance my camp stove and lantern stockpile in light of lessons learned from the deep freeze, and I need to go through some other stuff too.  Stored easily accessible drinking water is the next thing for me to tear into and rotate.

Plumbing supplies and gasoline stocks can be put away, replenished, and rotated too.  And I can’t forget the garden…

Stacking is the easy part.  Keep stacking, you can sort it out later.

nick

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Tues. Feb. 23, 2021 – no school for YOU! So says covid rules….

Mild and clear, shirtsleeves and shorts.  I hope.

Yesterday was beautiful.   Temps got up to mid 80s, and only went down to 48F at night.

Did some stuff around the house.  Sold more Mold Armor.  I expect that to start moving again.   Sold some specialty cable assemblies to a guy in Thailand.  I’m shipping to a forwarder in Cali, so that’s where my responsibility will end.  I’ve got to get the shipping out today.

Helped out another couple of people with plumbing supplies.  Offered to a few more.  I don’t have what everyone wants, but that’s ok with me.

Wife will be home today so I’ll be able to run errands.    And the kids will be home too.   Wife called daughter 1 in sick, and that activated their covid protocol, because any sickness is assumed to be covid until proven not.    Kid had a stuffy head, sore throat, mild and occasional cough, no fever and she’s better every day.  Can’t return to school for 10 days though or needs to show a negative covid test.  Daughter two can’t go to school either, as she’s just getting the scratchy throat.   She might as well get a test too, as she’s going to be locked out as well.   And wife’s office manager heard her making arrangements, and told HER to stay home until the tests come back negative.  It all makes perfect sense from one point of view, but seems like crazy overkill from another.   Naturally, I’ll be masked and avoiding contact with people too.

The cold snap just ate a week.   I don’t have a bunch of extra weeks laying around, so I guess I’ll have to step up my game.   Or just keep plugging away.  There’s always something more to do.   And I better get to doing…

I’ve got stacking to do.  So do you.   Water, food, meds, power, heat, light, defense, and sanity.  Make sure they’re not in short supply.

 

n

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Sun. Feb. 14, 2021 – OMG WINTER IS COMING 111!!11!!11!!11111!!!!!!!

Cold cold and more cold.  Also cold.

34F when I went to bed.  Probably about the same when I get up.

Spent Saturday doing pickups, and a bit of ‘showing the flag.’   It was really nice to see the guys at my non-prepping hobby, and to sell a couple of things.  I don’t get as much as ebay, but it stays in the community, and I don’t have to ship or support it.   Then later at a pick up, I met and made a deal with a new auctioneer to sell stuff for me.   She says she’ll take everything I want to send her.  So I am going to start with a few bins and see how they do.

In the mean time…………

I will be getting ready for the freeze-mageddon.

I’m getting the Mr Buddy heaters out of storage.  Getting the filters and BBQ tank adapter hoses out.   Filling the extra water jugs.   The city said “don’t let you taps just run”.   NOT because that doesn’t work to keep your stuff from freezing, but because “pressure might drop and fire fighters won’t be able to fight fires.”  Their goals are not your goals.

I also need to move some of the outdoor food storage into cover, and bring home a heater for the garage.

Apparently it’s going to be Biblical.   I guess we’ll see.  Seems unlikely to me that it could possibly be as cold as they’re predicting, or last as long.  They are NEVER accurate, why would this be any different?

If I have time, I’m going to add another bulb to each tree.  9F is pretty freaking cold if we get there.  Another 60w of heat and light could save the tree.

Or not, and then I curse and moan.  I’m JUST getting fruit from the trees.  I’ve been growing those things for YEARS.  Losing them now would purely suck.

Who had nuclear winter on the scorecard for this year?

Disasters, they don’t just happen to other people.   Keep stacking.

 

nick

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