Whirlwind Weekend

It's almost over, this crazy weekend. I miss my friends already, but the Browns are still in town and they'll get to see the purchase K and I made this afternoon. Thirty minutes of paper signing culminated in us being owners of a beautiful home on the east side. We're movin' on up, according to the Jeffersons.

Scott's surprise party was the reason for my lack of a post (thanks, Mandi, Angie). At least I know the blog is appreciated now, and I can continue. It was good to see Craig, the Browns, SK, but was not quite the same without Katie, JohnL, MaryL, and Sam & Kev. We made do, though, and Jen organized a hell of a bash. We all recovered Sunday over warm, crispy on the edges pancakes. It was a full weekend of good times.

Dave came to the shindig as well with Cynthia, the angel-sweet woman that will soon be living with three boys and a bigger boy. They are due in two months, and she's ready to pop already. I was pleased to find out he'll be swinging by regularly to 3201 Newport Place since it's his patrol area four nights a week. It's always good to know people on the force. I can't wait to be a nice pit stop for him. He swung in and was 10-10 last night to the bar-b-que we had on the deck at the Faldons' place. Good times, indeed.

There were many pictures taken, and this was partly the reason for my delay. I'll post 'em when I can. Mandi, take care of my neices and get me Tony's new address in Kabul when you get it. I'm very lucky to have so many good people in my life. I love you all.
CZ

Ramble On...

I was reading a post on a forum that I frequent when I stumbled upon a quote that really hit home:

"When you receive the news that my guns have been confiscated, you will know that I am dead."

CZ

Green Again

Ok, my previous post was a little misguided. I could swear that the first stories I read yesterday about this "Earth Hour" were all putting the lights out at the same time, which was 0900 GMT. Of course, this morning now, the stories state that everyone will recognize this hour of darkness at the local time zone time of 8pm. Interesting. Not sure if I'll be participating since that will mean that I can't see my plate of food, or even worse, see my glass to refill my beer. The horror. Can we use candles? Should I bring my Surefire? Who's the authority on this? Where's the commish?
CZ

Being Green

Ahh, yes. Global warming. Didn't Gore invent that, too? I'm tired of hearing about global warming. If people would read scientific studies instead of listening to blowhard politicians, the world would be a much better place.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070315101129.htm

There is evidently a worldwide 'lights out' time tomorrow for people that are raising awareness of 'global warming'. The scheduled time is GMT 0900. Awesome. My lights will be out because this translates to:

CDT= GMT(0900) - 6 = 0300.

3Am. Awesome. I can say I'm green.

A Dim View

I checked my email this morning like I do several times a day looking for a reply from a seller on Ebay. I've been expecting a reply to a claim I made on a seller that substituted an item I purchased with an item of far less value. I've had really good luck with Ebay in the past. I've always had good experiences with buyers and sellers equally, and have made decent money on old things I didn't want anymore. I've also been diversifying my investments lately and been messing around with scarce coins again.



Now, before I explain, you must understand at first that I've collected most everything that could have been collected at one point or another in my life. I've been a philatelist, numismatist, & bibliophile. I've also got a rather sizeable collection of comics and a smaller assortment of old baseball cards. One thing I haven't collected that apparently is common enough to have an official name is sugar packets (sucrologist), and yes, you read that correctly. Bizarre.



I've always had very diverse interests and any one thing (Jeep, guns, whatever) usually doesn't keep me occupied for more than a few months at a time. This is a good thing because if I lose interest, I've always got a choice of other interests or hobbies to fall back on. It also allows me to learn alot about a ton of different things, and this can be nothing but good in my book.

So, rewind a bit. About a month or so ago, I found a coin on Ebay that was a very good deal (so I thought) and put in a bid for it. From the picture and description, I ascertained that it was worth $75 to $100. It was safe to bid $50 in hopes of maybe getting lucky on the 'good deal'. Well, I actually won the bid. Great. I waited two weeks and didn't see a coin (after I paid via Paypal) so I emailed the seller. "Oh, I'm sorry, I overlooked it. It will leave tomorrow and I'll get you a tracking number. Sorry again. "..


Huh? Two weeks later? Anyway, at least she was kind enough to reply. Fine. I never got the promised tracking number in an email, but the coin arrived a couple days later and more than three weeks after the auction ended. That's when I opened what was supposed to be a Morgan Silver Dollar from 1897, minted in San Francisco, in Mint State condition. Well, not so much.



I opened the small package to find a loosely packed, well-circulated brownish Morgan Silver Dollar that was obviously not my coin. It was from 1897, but wasn't an S mint mark. It was a much more common coin minted in Philadelphia. It also was in far worse condition than the picture of the coin I was hoping to get. The thing was worth about twenty bucks. Bottom dollar for any Morgan, really, since they're usually worth that in their weight in silver.

I started the process of getting my money back by emailing the seller. Nothing for three days. I got on Paypal and filed a grievance. For some reason, Paypal advertises 'Buyer Protection' all the time, but in this instance, I was told that they couldn't reach the Paypal customer and that I was basically out of luck. Awesome. I had almost given up and chalked it up as my first bad Ebay experience- until this morning.



I got into my mail box and noticed a different message from Ebay. I opened it to find that they had seen that I recently filed a complaint. Yes. Bad seller. The note went on to explain that it was actually a $100 voucher good for any one-time purchase of ANYTHING on Ebay. Huh? I'd never heard of them doing such a thing. I had developed a negative opinion of Ebay in the past, only because of their CEO banning anything related to guns (listings they catch) being eligible for sale on the site. I don't like any CEO of any company trying to enforce their own morals on the masses. WalMart not selling CDs with graphic lyrics, Ebay banning gun-related items, this kind of stuff. They are publicly owned and should act that way. Well, unfortunately, I have to use Ebay because it is easily the most effective forum on which to peddle my wares and garner fair market value for them. I can buy and sell my guns on Gunbroker.com, so it's not a major problem.

I was pretty pleased with Ebay's action to make things right with this $100 voucher, and was very pleasantly surprised. I got onto my Paypal account just to look around, and lo and behold, there was a full refund from the seller of the original problem coin. Huh? Wow. Not only did the seller refund my money, but now I have an extra $100 to spend on Ebay. Needless to say, my view of Ebay is somewhat brighter now. I still hate Wal Mart, though.
CZ

End of the World

I have been inundated with news of impending doom today. It is all very feasable, and all very scary. Scott just chimed in with a link everyone should check out (see comments from: "Black Gold" yesterday). This is something big on top of big news I heard this morning. Margins on corn and wheat just moved up almost 50% overnight. This means that prices for this stuff is going to be ridiculous this year. All of the laws we passed for cooking corn for our cars is looking very stupid right now. There are many articles that talk about the ridiculous amount of corn it takes to get just one gallon of ethanol. Here's a good article:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/SuperModels/CouldWeReallyRunOutOfFood.aspx?page=1

This lack of food is very important and a HUGE problem in the 'big picture'. I was going to joke about how this will cause the price of beer to go up, but I'm growing more concerned about how much it will be to eat, let alone enjoy a pint of my favorite suds.

And to make matters worse, the big oil problem could compound VERY rapidly. I am in the business of toys that require fuel. This is not good. I've been tossing around the idea of adding on a fuel system to my Jeep that would enable it to run on Propane (LPG)-yes, the same stuff you use in your gas grill. I think it's going to be something I seriously consider doing. The only real disadvantage is having to store a big tank for LPG fuel, most likely behind the seats, which would limit my capacity for storage. We'll see what happens.

CZ

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

If there is one thing I've learned in the past several years of being with mi chica, it is that change is inevitable. This reminder hit me over the head yesterday when I was emailed about a possible change of venue for our wedding reception. I'm all for this change, though, since it was to The Crescent Hotel. Karen and I went to Eureka Springs several months back and had Sunday brunch at their Crystal Dining Room.

http://www.ghostinmysuitcase.com/places/crescent/

We were a little concerned about the $20 a plate price tag, since I can usually make a breakfast that is equal to any restaurant for far less, but all was forgotten after our experience. The food was no less than fantastic, and we were free to eat everything we could put on our plates for the same price. Smoked salmon, eggs how you like 'em, thick waffles, you name it, they had it. Another plus about having the bash there is that we can all stay there and stumble back to our respective rooms after the throw-down subsides.

Jen joked about how a certain someone might be a little bugged out about the fact that the Crescent is notorious for being one of the most haunted hotels in the country. I think it's cool and only adds to the fun factor.

http://www.crescent-hotel.com/ghosts/index.html

It should be a fantastic time, specters or not, and I'm looking forward to more good times with my people.

CZ