August to December
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HIGHLIGHTS - 1999 |
A U G U S T
LAST SOLAR ECLIPSE OF THE CENTURY !!
The last Total Solar Eclipse of the 20th Century occured on Wednesday, 11 August, starting at sunrise in Nova Scotia and ending somewhere in the Middle East. It was cloudy in Trenton, and the horizon was occluded by houses, so I would NOT have been able to see it anyway. The next is due in the year 2001, which will hopefully be the first year of the 21st Century-- contrary to public opinion, the next century begins in the year 2001!
Well, I have had my site running for almost 2 years already-- I was one of the "early" ones! My "incomplete" visitor count is almost at the 100k mark. Incomplete, because if someone logs onto any page OTHER THAN my main page where the counter is located, the visit is NOT counted.
Well, it has been raining lately, I have a bunch of new kittens [GUANCHE CATTERY], and my long-distance phone service was cut off because I have NOT been able to pay the bills in over THREE months-- same with the stupid credit cards!! The freezer is 2/3 empty, I have no wine left for my dinners and I am going batty trying to make some pennys with stuff on eBay-- plan to really get the stuff up for bids in October when people start spending more-- now all we have are the cheapskates! I hope I survive that long!!
S E P T E M B E R
I DID IT!! Finally reached 100,000 visitors to my site!!
Kardas.net was launched on 25 October 1997. Today is 4 September 1999, a total of 612 days.That is an average of some 163.4 visitors / day, which is not all that bad. There have been days with only a couple, and others with close to 1000.
HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI SOURCE
I found this really kewl website that has seemingly ALL of the High Schools in the U.S.A., and you can see if any of your old classmates are still around, and add your own data! HIGH SCHOOL My old school (Father Judge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is on there-- I was in the FIRST graduating class of the then-new school. You can read some of my school memories in my REMEMBRANCES OF SKIES PAST
WOW, I finally took the van to get inspected-- it is supposed to be done every year BUT I did NOT do it since December 1997!! I got the thing in 1994 and it still only has some 9,500 miles on it! This inspection expires in December, so I shall have to do it again, but this time I think it will NOT have to get inspected for 2 years according to the new law. Stopped at Sam's Club, near the inspection station, for the first time in about 2 months to get cat food-- the poor things did NOT have anything left!! Also got some food for me-- the fridge and freezer have never been so BARE!
UNCLE FLOYD VISITS
The rain started on Wednesday afternoon, 15 September, and Central New Jersey is hundreds of miles from the center of Hurricane Floyd! On Thursday the Governor closed ALL NJ schools, and they did the same in New York.
It is raining heavily now and the storm is still VERY distant. Not a lot of wind yet-- that comes as the center approaches, but it should NOT be exceptionally strong as the storm loses strength as it brushes the coast-- and the ocean water is cooler as the hurricane moves northward, thus NOT providing the energy for the storm to increase in strength. When you see a satellite image of the storm it is amazing just how LARGE it is!
I guess the drought water restrictions will now be lifted and people can start complaining about the excess water!! I could NEVER understand why the greedy media and the sheep that are sucked into its rantings always have to complain about natural phenomena such as storms, etc. They happen, and may be predicted. IF the government would have any foresight (a seeming rarity!) they might legislate that :
1) ALL cables (electricity, telephone, TV cable, etc.) now found on those EYESORE telephone poles, found by the dozen on any street, be replaced with underground conduits, thus preventing the dangerous LIVE lines which fall during a heavy rain or snow storm, cutting off power to entire cities and towns. Some European countries already do this.
2) start constructing sea-water desalination plants along parts of the east coast to provide potable water during drought and high-use seasons. The plants could also be somehow modified to produce electric power as they make fresh water. They have them in Israel, the Canary Islands, and MANY other places that are intelligent enough to realize that WATER is a resource that is becoming scarcer as urbanization and population rise and the classical aquifers/water sources are becoming inadequate (OR POLLUTED!!) to service this increased demand. It is certainly time to STOP the unbridled land speculation and building-for-profit and BEGIN to plan the infrastructure to service the new as well as what is already built before more crisis situations develop!
3) NO NEW development be allowed in sea and river coastal AND other areas which are up to about 3-4 feet above MEAN HIGH TIDE! The government would help owners move their homes to another place, within a reasonable distance. AND ALL GOVERNMENT "DISASTER AID" AND FLOOD INSURANCE FOR THESE AREAS BE IMMEDIATELY STOPPED! If people are stupid enough to build or buy in such areas, they should be responsible for any damage, NOT THE TAXPAYERS! I personally, as a tax payer, do NOT feel logically nor morally obligated to pay for somebody elses pure stupidity when an "act of God" washes away or severely damages their usually inadequately constructed beachfront leisure or main home. My family had two summer homes over the years in the Wildwoods, and they were BOTH at least 4 feet above ground level and NEVER got flooded although the hurricane waters sometimes, in VERY rare instances, rose up to 3 feet in the yard and unraised garages.
normally trickling waterfall in West Trenton
At 16:40h, Thursday, 16 September, the rain is, OFF and ON, heavier than before, but NOT YET anything as heavy as even a strong thunderstorm such as those we have had in recent years. NO trees down anywhere and NO power outages. The storm is now at the extreme southern end of New Jersey and moving rapidly in this direction.
OK, it is midnight, 17 September, drizzling outside and COLD. The streets and roads that normally get flooded when it rains a few inches were once again flooded. Some rotten tree branches were removed by the NOT so strong wind gusts, as usually happens. The kids have school tomorrow, and I assume that the stores which closed EARLY will once again be peddling their wares.
Of course the waves at the beach areas were higher than normal-- but that also happens during a north-easter. In summary, a real DUD of the "monster" storm portrayed by the media. I have seen MORE severe thunderstorms and damaging snow storms over the last five years!
I went to take a pic of the Delaware River in West Trenton BUT it was NOT as high as it had been after a good summer or winter storm! The train station, near where I live, has been getting a lot of media attention because trains to New York and elsewhere have been canceled due to flooding of the tracks (matter of fact there was a reporter complete with accompanying cameraman there when I arrived, strolling along, making few interviews). The above photos show that the tracks are located along side a canal, which was built in the 1800s to transport coal or something, and runs along the Delaware for MANY miles. Since they were stupid enough to have the tracks at a lower level than the flood stage of the canal, naturally it, and the adjoining EVEN LOWER lying employee parking lot flood when the canal overflows its containment! Some of the cars were up to the roof in water!! I am really amazed at the EXTREMELY poor planning of facilities here and elsewhere. I can remember years ago that the lower level of a large new multi-level parking garage in Trenton was flooded, as well as document storage areas in some other County/State facility-- LITTLE FORESIGHT!!
WHY are some roads built so low that they constantly flood, impeding traffic? WHY do constructions near a waterway, large OR small, include basements or levels which are at or below the mean high water line? WHY do certain oceanfront areas NOT maintain the natural barrier dunes to avoid a large part of the heavy surf and flooding during storms? WHY do many shopping malls have parking lots which DO NOT slope AWAY from the mall, allowing for drainage during a storm-- and many times result in an impassable man-made lake? The construction companies already made their $$$$, and unfortunately plain old common sense was NOT included in their lucrative contracts!!
ANOTHER GREAT SITE AWARD!! Thank you!
WORK and MORE WORK!
This week has been full of activity! I updated the cat pages to include new pics of the kittens available for adoption. I redid my Beanie pages. I changed the Koi background on the index page to show more fish-- I try to change that pic once a week, more or less.
There are a bunch of shelves on the right as you come into the shop-- matter of fact the entire first main room is covered with the same built-in shelves! They had remained as they were since I got the place in the 80s-- a dark brown color with a darkish backing. I decided to brighten up at least the front right side a bit and did the back in white and the shelves and trim a Nantucket Blue.
Since the place is so cluttered up with stuff, I have to do it in parts, moving junk from where I want to paint, then back again to do another part. GAWD, it looks way better!! So I have to let the newly painted section dry for 2 days, then move more junk and hopefully finish off this part in a couple more days.
The weather has been warmish and nice for a couple days already.
WOW - ANOTHER KEWL SITE AWARD!! Thanks a lot!
BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM IN NEW YORK??
I find it VERY unusual that, all of a sudden, birds, horses and people are dying in and around the New York City area from what was thought to be a mosquito transmitted disease, St. Louis encephalitis. Now, after further analysis the germ seems to be some form of West Nile-like virus, said to be related yet less virulent than the other strain.
It has NEVER been found in this part of the world before, and is seen in Africa and Asia-- like where most of the world's known terrorist organizations are located!
Last week I found a dead bird beside my house, and thought it was strange-- this was days before anyone mentioned the birds dying in NY!!
I would imagine that someone with a slight imagination in government has thought about the possibility of biological terrorism , BUT would NOT release such information for fear of widespread panic, PLUS the obvious political implications-- so they just spray with insecticides which, incidentally, also kill many other insects, including the Monarch Butterfly which is now in its yearly migration along the East Coast to Mexico.
If I were the authorities working on this rare outbreak, I might want to check where the focus of this epidemic seems to be-- Central Park?? Send an army of plainclothes investigators to the area to check out who is feeding the birds what, who might have a garage full of mosquito breeding tanks and/or the citizenship of ANYONE who might have gotten the disease. The masterminds behind the scheme would NOT do the deed themselves, rather delegate some peon, probably some disgruntled terrorist-in-training to release whatever-- and they would be unintelligent enough to get it themselves!!
Hopefully I am being my usual "imaginative" self!!
My Site Stats
I looked at the viewer stats for my site for the first time, which I found with the counter on the main page-- it measures ONLY those visits to that page. The results were interesting:
1. The Windows 95 operating system was the most common BY FAR-- Linux and IRIX came in last.
2. Explorer and Netscape 3.x and 4.x were the predominant browsers
3. The highest viewing hours were 20 and 21 h-- the lowest were 4 and 5 h
4. Sunday was the most active day, with Thursday a close second-- Wednesday was the slowest
5. I had viewers from 52 countries, the U.S.A. being the highest number, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Australia. The four lowest were Uruguay, the Virgin Islands, Austria and South Korea
ALFREDO KRAUS, the lyric tenor, was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands, España) on 24 September 1927, son of an Austrian father who wanted him to study engineering, which he did. Luckily he also studied singing in Valencia, Barcelona and Milan. Although not one of the infamous "3 Tenors", he was one of the foremost male opera stars of the century-- I saw him in a performance in Madrid when I was studying there. He died on 10 September 1999 in Madrid of pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.
O C T O B E R
WOW, another site award! Thanks!
Work is continuing on the shelves on one side of the shop. It is almost completed! Now all I have to do is drag stuff to where it more or less goes to clear the space out a bit, then come the pics. Stay tuned!
I go downstairs on a daily basis to do a bit, and usually stay 4-7 hours straight painting and arranging goodies on the shelves-- after they have sort of dried for at least 24 hours. It looks really a LOT better than it did-- one side will be "refinished", and the other will stay the same as it was, just to keep the good old flavor intact-- PLUS, I really do NOT have the energy to remove tons of books and other stuff to paint the other side!
It has been getting noticeably colder.
Today I remembered that I have a couple smallish "stained glass" windows stashed away for years, so I got them, painted two and put one, after midnight, at the entrance of the shop and a second on a side window with two largish plaster sculptures that were just sitting around. I must go down there 4-5 times a day, find some painting or rearranging to do, spend a couple hours (AT LEAST) each time, then stand back and look at how much BETER it looks afer more than 15 years!!
I still have a couple clocks to add to the horology section, more fossils, a couple bronze sculptures and other junk, clear out the stuff piled up, polish the wood items and clean the floor, and THAT SIDE will be done!!-- then come the pics!! Although I enjoy the work and seeing the kewl change, I am really one TIRED PUPPY! Shhhh-- do NOT remind me that the other side then has to be tackled! PLUS a lot of outside painting before it gets even frostier than it already is!
VISITORS !
Prof. Dr. Alfred De Grazia and his wife, Ami, are back in the U.S. from their shore front place on the Island of Naxos, Greece-- they make the trip several times a year. I was bubbling over with excitement at their infrequent visit and had to show off some of the work I did on the shop.
We chatted about his website [ARCHIVES] and his latest projects and it was just past 13h and we were lunch-challenged, so they invited me to munch "somewhere"-- I suggested a new place across from the newly inaugurated Sovereign Bank Arena about 3 blocks away. I had not been out that way for about 2 weeks and wanted to see how the area was progressing.
WOW, the Arena is a real gem-- architecturally in line with the creative brickwork of the old Roebling Complex style and built from scratch! That black vertical thing to left of center is a two-story wire-making machine from the Roebling Works. I was REALLY amazed at how kewl the area now looks, complete with adjoining parking areas bordered with stylish wrought-iron fencing, and old-style street lights.
We went to the URBANWORD Cafe-Theatre-Gallery, right across South Broad Street from the Arena. It is remarkable what they did to the old dump, a shining example of urban renewal with CLASS and GOOD TASTE! The food was great and reasonably priced.
Al, Roland (one of the owners) and Ami
OK, so you want a sneak peek at what I have been doing all night-- GAWD, another one without any sleep!! The new section is NOT yet finished-- I have to take some more inside pics, hopefully today, and put them up. And it should NOT give you the impression that the shop is all tidy and all-- IT STILL IS PILED WITH JUNK ALL OVER! Another week or so and it may look a bit better. I started the new section because I was so impressed with the new Arena and all a couple days ago, and think it may be time to suggest that people visit the shop-- we shall see how it works. If local businesses do the same for me, I hope to put their banners on my "Other Nearby Points of Interest" (I may change the heading) LINKS-- right now I just have the art gallery and the collectibles section of my shop listed.
Oh, well, my long distance phone service has been cut off again, and it will NOT be long before the city decides they are waiting way too long for the taxes and will put the places up for auction!! I sold some toys at auction to a lady and her check bounced AFTER I sent her the critters plus payments for bills-- so 2 checks of mine were NOT covered and I was charged $30/check for "insufficient funds"!! Holy shit, you do not have the $$ in the account and they charge you MORE than the checks were made out for because you could not pay them!! Figure that one out!!
Rafael Alberti was born in Puerto de Santa Maria, near Cadíz, on 16 December 1902. His poetry, and that of his friend, Garcia Lorca, were probably Spain's most prominent lyracists of this century. He was the last remaining member of the "GENERATION OF 1927", which included Lorca, Buñuel, Dalí, Salinas and Aleixandre, among others. He also dabbled in art, and I have a limited edition print by him, published in Madrid, from the 60s. He died at his home on 28 October 1999 at the age of 96.
THAT SPOOKY TIME OF YEAR AGAIN
OK, so it is almost HALLOWEEN! I am just getting in the mood!! FOLLOW ME---
Thanks, Mary Beth !
Predictions For 2000
1. POLITICAL GLITCHES in Russia, China, Pakistan, Indonesia and-- oh, well, you know them all already! New major scandals in the US-- so what else is totally predictable? Sadam Hussain finally is replaced. IF Hillary runs for the senate, she will lose.
2. Ty will come out with a new line of Beanies, called eBeanies, eBears, etc. He will add online sales, which may reduce the "back door" selling which has plagued him for years already. They will retire faster and fewer of each model will be cloned. New "anti-counterfeit" hologram tags. At least 15 new models to be announced at the end of this year.
3. There WILL BE Y2k problems of all kinds, some VERY serious, others simply a temporary nuisance
4. MORE earthquakes on the high end of the Richter scale in densely populated areas
5. School violence will escalate because the "new" maniacs will have learned from the well-publicized mistakes of their predecessors.
6. SERIOUS Internet problems due to the growing number of home computers worldwide. Fraud escalates
7. Medical breakthroughs in cancer and AIDS
8. Major INSTABILITY in worldwide financial markets
9. Terrorist activity on the rise, including the biological variety
10. MANY worldwide "Millennium" special activities will turn out losing $$ due to lack of interest AND the exorbitant prices for many of them-- NOT in that particular order!
11. As the index of Solar Activity continues to rise during this new sunspot cycle, solar storms should cause some havoc with the hundreds, if not thousands, of communications satellites circling the planet-- this translates to INTERRUPTIONS in cellular communication, TV and other signals, and perhaps to security satellite networks. Although I am sure that the satellites themselves are INSURED, the vital modern services which they provide are NOT!! NATURE does have a way of showing humankind that there are some things that they did NOT provide for in their $$$-making ventures, be they poorly constructed buildings in earthquake or flood prone areas, or electrical and space systems during times of intense solar flares!
I am still working on the shop-- moving things really does a job on my hip and back! Come on Bernar, where are you when I need you? Even Joe, my plumber and fellow antique collector/dealer, helped me move a heavy artifact a couple days ago! More pics will have to wait until I finish the main room! Incidently, I have looked over last years YES and see that I have been working on the place for over a year already-- with increased activity in the last 3 months or so.
N O V E M B E R
I added a page on my present thoughts and remembrances of Beanies.
After another visit to see Roland from the Urban Word, I started a section (NOT YET COMPLETED) dedicated to what I call the Wire Rope District of Trenton. As I have NO political nor other clout, the name will not catch on, but I think it best describes my heretofore neglected part of this once heavily industrialized city.
ICE HOCKEY - TRENTON TITANS
Joe, my plumber since like when my ark flooded many years ago-- and a fellow antique enthusiast, gave me 2 tickets to see the TITANS, Trenton's new ice hockey team play at the nearby ARENA, of which I spoke above. WOW, I would finally get to see the inside of it! To find somebody to go with me was the next step.
Bernar was working until 9, and the game started at 7. Patricia does not like ice hockey. Roland never got back to me. So I asked the neighbor if one of her kids might like to go-- he did. She even made me a nice dinner in exchange!
It was raining VERY hard, so I took the Festiva rather than walk the 3 blocks. Traffic was awful. I got to park in the RESERVED lot across from the Arena-- because the tickets were season passes.
The place is enormous, bright, and there was a crowd! It was about to begin, so we got to our seats-- SECOND ROW from the front, right behind the Plexiglas shields!! The kid disappeared "to go to the bathroom" as it started and I did not see him again for the 2 hours or so of the game! Must have been a big shit!??
I had no idea that ice hockey was so intense and fast! The puck flew out of the playing field a couple times and they kept crashing into the Plexiglas in front of me during the whole game. Once a large pane actually came out of the frame right there! The home team lost 2-3. So I have finally actually seen a Zamboni, those machines used to resurface the ice between innings or rounds or whatever they call hockey plays.
It was only the second sports event I ever went to, the first being a wrestling match I went to see with my brother in Wildwood when we were kids.
OK, so in the row behind me was a really friendly and extremely good-looking girl who was signing something for someone-- and I was naturally inquisitive, so I introduced myself. Her name is Jackie Pilla. She seemed to be with her dad, an outgoing, also friendly type.
She is from Wilmington, Delaware, with a M.Ed. and she is also famous for exactly the traits which impressed me -- her beauty and accessibility/humanness --
She was nice enough to autograph and dedicate her photo for me -- as MISS DELAWARE USA 1999!!
Thanks, Joe, for getting me out of the house for once, and to Jackie for being so nice to a complete stranger. The game was kewl fun and the Arena itself impressed me positively! I wonder what ever happened to the neighbor's kid?
WOW, Another Award!
Earl R. Milton, a researcher in Catastrophism and friend of the late Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, died on Saturday, 6 November of a heart attack at his home in Calgary, Canada. More details will be included as they become available.
S N I F F !!
My favorite cat was Guichi's male Sphynx kitten. He would climb up my leg and sit on my shoulder or on the warm computer monitor keeping me company during the long hours each day I am at the puter. He was hairless, which is sort of rare in any litter, and quite the typical classical potential show kitten. I even had a lady in Sweden who was interested in adopting him. On Thursday, 11 November, I gave all my cats their usual shots, their first for my 2 kittens, the Sphynx and my remaining Siamese female. On Friday my favorite seemed a bit listless and colder than normal. I was VERY upset. I did not have any $$ to take him to the veterinarian, so I called my old pal Bernar to see if he would lend me some to immediately take him to the vets. I told him that I thought he was dying, and all he could say was some crap or other, and I started crying and screaming obscenities at him and I hung up. I called him again asking him if he could call the vet that is sort of close to him, and that I would be over with the kitty. He told me to call the vet, and "Why bother, the kitten will probably die and the vet will make a lot $$ for doing nothing!!"
So I myself called the vet and asked for an appointment as soon as possible. The girl started asking me questions about the cat, its color and other shit. I screamed something to the effect that she can see what the fuck color he is when I bring the poor thing IF he is not dead before she finishes asking me more ridiculous questions!! I was supposed to be there in 15 minutes, which is sort of rare and quick! So I bundled the kitty up and drove VERY fast to see Bernar and try to get some $$. He babbled on about how the cats were too rare and very sensitive when young, and other crap, and he wanted to see him, so we went to the car, which was locked, of course. He got upset that I locked the car. The travel cage was turned away from the door, and it seemed that he was upset that he had to turn it in order to look at the kitten inside! He kept babbling gawd knows what and I simply said, do you have any money that you can lend me? He had to go back inside, then basically shoved the bills in my hand, continually babbling something or other as he quickly went inside again. What a personable dude!! And he is my ONLY "friend" here!!
At the vets I only waited a couple minutes before they looked at the kitten. The female vet said that they would have to check him out, give him some inter venous glucose and something to counter the possible effects of the shot I had given him the day before-- so I should leave him there until 7:30pm, when they close, to see how he progresses. One of the other girls said she was looking for a Sphynx and that she would like to adopt him.
So I went back home and puttered around for a couple hours, got my coat on at 19h, when the phone rang. The vet said that kitty seemed better, was standing and all, and that I could leave him there overnight or bring him home. I said I was just on my way out the door to see him, and quickly returned there. [as I write this, Guichi, the kitten's mother, is snuggling up to me at the keyboard-- I guess she senses my anguish at recalling the events??]
The head of the clinic called me in and said that after he called me on the phone, he went down to see my baby and that he had died!! So we both went downstairs and my poor baby was just lying there on his heated pad!! I hugged him and started crying again (as I am now as I write this!! HEY, I cry VERY rarely!!). The doc said he seemed to be recovering, then all of a sudden he was gone. He was surprisingly sympathetic, which I really did NOT expect for some reason. He said that he had labored breathing and that his temperature was not even registerable and that his red blood cell count was very low-- or was it his white blood cells?? So I put my poor kitty in a plastic bag and brought him home, crying all the way!! GAWD, I am such a baby!! So he now resides in my freezer-- which is basically bare of food right now-- until I can cut the weedy trees down in the little side yard (that I have asked Bernar to help me with for 2 years already!!) and give the poor thing a "proper" burial.
Kitty, born in Trenton, New Jersey on Friday, 20 August 1999 - Died in Trenton, New Jersey on Thursday, 11 November 1999 at the age of almost 12 weeks.
The following day I returned the borrowed two $50 bills, in a plain white envelope with an "X" written on it, to the dining room table at Bernar and my place, the one with the Koi ponds. I almost hope he threw it away with the piles of junk he usually has piled up in that area!! Incidentally, the vet did NOT charge me anything!!
LAST ONE IN 1000+ YEARS!!
Today's date is 11-19-1999 (or for our European friends - 19-11-99). All of the digits are odd. The next Odd Day will be 11-11-3111 - which is well over a thousand years away. Days such as 04-13-89 have both even and odd digits - or zeros, thus, it is neither odd nor even.
The next even day will be 2-2-2000 - the first one since 8-28-888. So,now you have a reason to celebrate today - it will be / was your last Odd Day on Earth!!!!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
My food supply was/is lower than it EVER has been and I was sort of depressed at the coming holiday, for various reasons (some of which you may have read above in various sections)-- then I got a nice note from my brother to come over for dinner at his place with his kids. I was up until 5am the night before doing several eBay auction blurbs for more rare and unusual books and other goodies, and woke up on Thanksgiving after noon! After rushing to look presentable, I had to call him like 45 minutes before I was supposed to be there and ask for directions-- AGAIN!!
So I am on my way, instructions in hand. I reached exit 30 something and thought I had gone too far-- returned to exit 42 and thought I may NOT have gone far enough-- a lot of traffic. Returned to my original path and just kept going, thinking that if I reach Delaware I would just call and say I got lost and maybe have a hamburger somewhere!
Well, I finally reached the Glassboro exit, and in another 15 minutes or so, after stopping at a gas station to ask directions, I FINALLY FOUND THEIR PLACE!! It takes about an hour and a half to get there, BUT I did it in slightly less!
All their kids were there, the married girls with their hubbies. My five nieces and nephews are really growing and progressing nicely, in school and on their jobs. The turkey and accompanying munchables were abundant, and the 3 different pies for desert were fabulous, as usual. I really stuffed myself more than I had eaten in weeks-- matter of fact, I was the last one to finish!
Chris packed me all the leftover veggies and stuff, plus pieces of the pies and a pile of turkey, so I shall continue the feast for a couple days in Trenton. And the cats get the bones! They must know I have them because they are all standing around staring at me with that, "OK, so when do we get our stuff" look in their eyes!
D E
C E
M B
E R
Ok, my dream of having the shop sort-of up and running for the holiday season seems to have evaporated. I need someone to help me move some cases around and no one seems ever available to help out. I keep the lights on, at least, and 2 people stopped in while I was down there. They like this and that, BUT always say they will return. They never do. It is MY FAULT, of course, because I do NOT slavishly just sit down there with bells and whistles, herding in the potential State worker customers in on their way to and from work, etc. As I was unlocking the door one morning, a lady asked if I was open and did I have any money that I could spare! GAWD!
Actually, I have been working my little fingers to the bone getting many of my treasures on eBay. Sleep little, made hundreds of scans, write out my usual cutesy item descriptions, now somewhat embellished for the holidays. I put a bunch up almost every day from the data sheets I made. Sheets have 33 lines for items, with spaces for my codes, photo reference, title and more info -- have done almost 10 complete sheets thus far! Have included dozens of my favorite fossil books, many of which I had since I was a kid. My study - computer room looks like shit -- piles of books and stuff all over every possible flat space! Almost trip over things when I walk. The cats really miss me because I keep the door to my study shut so they do not mess up the things I am selling -- they now only see me when I have dinner and when I crawl into bed -- which has been NOT earlier than 2-3 am lately!!
Am putting the things up for 10 days rather than the 7 which I have used for over 2-3 years already. FUNNY THING - the stuff that I think will get the most and highest bids have been going really cheap, while some things that have been simply lying on my shelves for decades, and which I consider "ordinary" have been fetching really great prices -- by "great" I do NOT mean extraordinary! IF all my winning bidders actually send me their $$ (which may take as long as 3 weeks AFTER the auction close!) I may be able to catch up on my past-due credit card bills, still stacked high on my desk, the 18 months back taxes, and other somewhat important things! I have NOT even answered the phone for the past 6-7 weeks because all I get are calls from the credit card companies -- that leave messages on my machine which I never answer, of course! WHAT A SHITTY LIFE sometimes!
The house really needs cleaning, the 2 rugs have to be done with the GREEN MACHINE I have that uses a solution to get out the dirt. I just washed out 8 cat box litter pans - and when I change the ones they are using, it will be another 4 to do. After that last asshole who got a pair of my Siamese kittens and stopped payment on the check, I have not even put another ad in the paper for my remaining female yet - a psychological block I guess, BUT I shall have to do it really soon.
When the first couple checks came in, I rushed to Sam's Club to get a MINIMAL amount of food for me and the cats, plus cat litter-- I, and they, had NOTHING left! It was SO bad that I was using my last can of coffee, and if you knew me, I ALWAYS had 2-3 unopened cans in the cupboard!
I have NOT sent out Christmas cards yet, and may NOT get around to it for the FIRST TIME since I was about 14 years old! At least I will not have to add to my GRINCH LIST this year! I hope to be able to send a CYBER greeting to those who are able to receive it!
I still have painting on the place to do outside, and some other outdoor fixing up before the weather gets too much colder, but that too may have to wait until the spring - IF I survive that long! One of the few things that have, sort of, kept me going are the cyber contacts I get, not all that frequently, though. Horacio in Tenerife, Sybil and the other "girls" from that online Beanie group, and FEW others. I have NOT even put my usual dozens of daily ads for Beanies on the posting boards since I started my eBay extravaganza -- not that I would have sold anything anyway! I guess it is a consolation, of sorts, that I am still alive and breathing -- for whatever that is worth!
OK, back to see what else I can find for the auction -- may do a couple more days of stuff, then stop until after the New Year-- people will want their goodies BEFORE the holidays. And I really MUST clean the apartment a little!
My HoLiDaY GREETING
OK, I am finished putting goodies on eBay until next year. Almost a completely filled 12 pages of items on my data sheets, meaning some 393 different things! It will be after 31 December that all the $$ that comes in will get to me. I have a couple DORKS already who have NOT yet contacted me for things from 3 weeks ago-- I SHALL post NEGATIVE feedback for the bitches!
Now my activities include emailing my successful bidders when they win, when their $$ arrives and when I send out the stuff. Of course, packing, and all take up a LOT of time. I have sent things to Italy, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, England, Canada, Scotland, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, the Philippines, Hawaii, MANY goodies to California and Texas, and to dozens of other States.
It is NOT only a BIG help towards paying my VERY overdue bills and PART OF the city taxes, BUT ALSO I get a GOOD feeling, being able to provide a lot of people with things they enjoy at a reasonable price during the HoLiDaYs. It is like when I started trading and selling Beanies a couple years ago - I felt as if I was helping others get some critters that they did not yet have, and, when trading, getting some to complete my collection. I really miss the "good old days" of the Beanie craze and REX's contest and all!
I have to begin getting some batches of treasures ready to auction AFTER the 1st of January - after eBay crashes BIG TIME due to their Y2k glitches, and everybody has discovered that the associated problems were NOT all that bad - EXCEPTING the terrorism, of course, around the world and even here in the U.S.. It should be an interesting couple of days! The 1900s seem as if they will really go out with a BANG!
On Christmas Eve I have still NOT cleaned the apartment, or any of the other normal stuff yet! I have been VERY busy sending out eBay auction winning items, some BEFORE waiting for the checks to clear so the people can have a holiday surprise, hopefully before the 25th! I just hope that my BIG surprise will be that some checks will not clear! But the mails have been VERY slow, even with the additional services the USPS said they got together for the holidays!
TY is still at his old games with his new announcement that people now have to VOTE on whether or not he will make Beanies in 2000! I am sure his factories already produced the new batch and they will be on the January order forms! What a slimy way of doing business!! And he will charge 50 cents per vote! Here is one person who will NOT send in his vote!!
Incidently, my long distance phone service was shut off again!! GAWD!
I have given Christmas cheer in the form of a bottle of Hartley's + Gibson's Spanish Cream Sherry to the tobacco wholesaler across the street who gets my packages when I am not home, 2 girls at the post office where my tons of things are sent, the young gal and guy (Darius-- and I weaseled a nice piece of cake from him, with piles of icing, just as I like them!) bank tellers who put up with me on my frequent visits with eBay $$, a former student of mine who lives on the side street, the next-door Puerto Rican neighbors, the nice ones-- this evening she gave me 3 plates of munchables (saffron rice and roast pork, a chichimanga, potato salad, macaroni salad, slices of baked ham, and a delicious desert of some kind-- I have to ask her the name. I still have 2-3 bottles earmarked for some other neighbors.
Now I can spend Christmas day cleaning the apartment a little -- MAYBE!
Oh, well, "the best laid plans of mice and men"... It is about 5 hours before the change of year-- NO cleaning done-- and I really do NOT give a damn! (actually, I do, but if it is not done, it will eventually get done! Some day-- BEFORE the dust bunnies really start to get vicious!)
Thus far there have been NO terrorist attacks anywhere in Europe, which was my personal index to what might happen here. NO big noticeable Y2k events anywhere. BUT it did make great news, while it lasted! In any case, have a great YEAR 2000, and I hope to see you all on my new 2000 page!
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