Towards the end of last year, things were humming along on my techno junk front. Last year, I completed my surround sound project. I purchased a couple of scanners, I bought a home base radio. The next thing I was going to focus on was an antenna. All of a sudden I realized that I needed to refocus my resources on my hike or I was going to run out of time. Hence the New Year, New Gear series that I have been running.
Despite my focus on my hike, I still check Craigslist every couple of days just to see if there are any deals out there. My criteria for deals are not just cheap but also close. I will use eBay for used things. There is plenty of old, out of date or out of fashion or just plain used there.
Sometimes, I see inexpensive items on Craigslist. When I was looking for subwoofers, I probably looked for over a year. While I waffled whether I really wanted one or not, the thought of coordinating a meetup and driving over an hour was not really a deal for me. This was especially true when I could pay the same amount on eBay and have it shipped. After looking for a year, what is another week or two.
By that same token, I saw some speakers for sale locally. They were $30 and in town. I had been thinking that I would like to have an extra set of speakers so I wouldn’t have to tear my setup apart when my wife want’s to have a birthday party or karaoke. That is what I consider a deal. Technically, I didn’t need it. I didn’t necessarily want it either but it was hard to refuse. Incidentally, I haven’t used them at all in the three years since I bought them.
What I find on Craigslist is a lot of the same things for a long time. A lot of it is nearly useless items like old electronic vacuum tubes or things that I have no interest in like a 10 year old Kindle or something like that. Every once in a while I see something that I have see more of, that is today. What the heck is a paranormal kit?
When you read the description, the seller is now into baseball cards, not chasing ghosts… what? Clearly this is an individual that falls hard into their hobbies, but what niche ones they are. I grew up in the golden age of baseball cards. That would be the late 1980s. I learned recently that the exclusivity that Topps had, expired. As a result, new companies like Donruss and Upper Deck all of the sudden appeared. This caused the value of cards of all era cards to become very popular somewhat lucrative. Something like a Don Mattingly rookie card was worth $20 at the time. But, once the gold rush became industrial extraction, the market never saw the extreme highs of the time again.
Back to relevant business. I wouldn’t say that I don’t believe in ghosts but I am skeptical. I am open to the idea but I have also never felt or seen something to make me believe otherwise. Part of me would like to think it isn’t that much money to perform some experiments. I mean, who wouldn’t want to have a device called “Ghost Detector”? Can you imagine the Halloween parties that you could throw?
The point being, sometimes I run across interesting things. When that happens, I look at the extra pictures and my mind starts to wander about who is this person? What would cause them to fall so deep in a rabbit hole? Would I allow myself to get in such position? Regardless of the thing that they are into, I find it fascinating.
End Your Programming Routine: My techno junk fascination will continue to march on at some point in the future. I was thinking back to this time last year and it was all about prepping to work away from home or at least my office. That was several months of my incidental spending money but it was also for the stage in my life. I was buying portable monitors and do dads for productivity. This too will pass and then it will be back to where I left off. Tell that to my shooting and reloading pantry as well.
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