So I was on a run this morning and... garage sale!

Entry posted by phaxda September 11, 2010

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What a freaky-deaky morning I had today! Often on Saturday mornings I go running with my running club. Yes, to answer the immediate question, I am indeed in a running club! If I sat around all day playing games, I would be HUUUGE cause I eat like a madman. So I have to run to balance it, plus I get high on the endorphins.

So this morning we went out on a group fun run to a trail in a relatively wealthy suburban area that is one of my favorite hunting grounds (I once found a pair of $1000 speakers at a Salvation Army around there), but I promised my wife I would not go to any thrift stores, etc. because things at my house have gotten ridiculous so far as stuff accumulating goes... then again, I have not rented a storage unit, so I guess it's not as bad as some people have it (or as good, rather, depending on your perspective).

We went out and back on the trail, I wanted to do 5 miles so went out for 2.5 and coming back on the trail at around the 4.75-mile mark, my buddy looks off to the left and starts laughing. "Garage sale, 11 o'clock!" he says. This is funny because on the way out I had been relating my troubles with regard to garage sales and excess stock and angry wife and alla that on the way out. He clicks his watch off right away, and heads for the sale... and I did the same and reluctantly followed.

To set the scene a little better, this is a house buried on a one-way that backs up to the trail. They did not have any signs up that I could see, but man did they have a lot of stuff. A couple and their kid, looked to be college-age. So right away I see a Playstation 1, and sitting next to it is a network adapter for a PS2. So right away, I am interested... Asked about the PS1 he says $5 and then says, "oh but that (meaning the adapter) goes with the other one" and took me over to show off a nice original PS2 and about 20 games, controllers, hookups, all that. I ask what he wants, and he says "$20."

When I run, I don't take a lot of money with me (usually just a 5 and my ATM card for emergencies) and my buddy had nothing on him as well. So I asked the kid where the nearest ATM was (pretty close) and if he would hold the stuff and I'd come back in 5-10 minutes. No problem, we ran over to the ATM, I paid an extortionary $3 transaction fee, and ran back to the sale. I handed over the $40 I had just gotten out of the ATM and then saw a Gameboy Advance sitting there and asked how much for that, had one of those flip-up lights and 3 games, and the kids says "make it $30 even." Took my $10 in change, and my running buddy and I hoisted the boxes and jogged back to my car with them. $30 netted a great haul:

PS2, all the hookups

Network adapter

2 controllers

4 memory cards

24 games

PS1, (no hookups)

2 controllers

4 memory cards

Gameboy Advance, light

3 games

Here are the games...