Ego's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

Thanks folks. @theanimial, the tan suit has long since gone back into the goodwill. My guess is it has gone in and out of style two or three times since them.

Toska2
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Toska2 »

Your stories always bring a smile to my face but the story of how ego became 2 made me draw a deep breath and shed a few tears of joy and sadness. Congrats.


And thank you.

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

Since Eliud Kipchoge ran his sub-2 hour marathon there has been nonstop talk about the shoes he wore to do it. The hype has only intensified with the new generations that followed. Nike is very good at hype and I wrote it off as good marketing.

This morning at the swap meet I found a pair of Nike Zoom Alphafly Next% shoes for $4. Actually the seller had two pairs among a hundred others but I only bought one pair because they were size 11 and I typically wear 11.5. I would guess they have about 300 miles on them.

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I drive directly from the swap meet to the beach to run. My run consists of a few miles in the deep sand on the beach and then about 6.5 on asphalt. For comparison I did this run on Saturday morning in 1:13. This morning wearing the new (to me) shoes I ran the beach portion in 21:30, exactly the same as Saturday. When I got onto the asphalt the shoes made a loud floppy pounding noise as I landed on my forefoot, but my knees, which have been a little achy this winter, felt great. I stop to do pullups at two different pullup bars and checked my time. Ahead of schedule. When I returned to the car I was six minutes faster than Saturday. I hope he still has the other pair on Saturday.

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

Ego wrote:
Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:22 pm
I found a Zarges case at the swap meet last weekend for $10. The seller said he may have more and said if he did he would bring them on Saturday. Years ago we met a guy with a Land Rover in Mozambique with two Zarges cases strapped to the roof and I have watched for them ever since. German made so rare here.
The first time I saw Zarges cases they looked something like this....

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A few weeks ago I found three more cases for $15 each. These were a bit larger than the first one and I was able to use them to organize my shop.

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I was watching my favorite maker, Laura Kampf, and saw that she scored some incredible aluminum cases that were used to store mobile espionage equipment. https://youtu.be/CGMRdIKJqiY

Made me realize I am going to need wheels for these if I intend to move them while full. The company makes clip on wheels but they cost a small fortune so I will have to improvise. Someone trashed a bed frame a few months ago. It wouldn't fit in the can so I tossed it behind the fence. I may try to cut it to size and add wheels.

horsewoman
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by horsewoman »

Wow what a steal! The zarges head quarters are relatively close to where I live, but you won't get a box like this under 150 euros used hereabouts.
I'd like one for my music stage gear but so far no luck on a good price.

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

@horsewoman, They are very expensive here as well. I just got lucky. I believe they were used to transport small drones as the foam inserts were in that shape. The waste produced by the defense department is incredible.

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

I bought a small watercolor this morning for $5 that is signed by the artist and marked 1909 Venice. I did a little research and found his obituary.
He was unknown as an artist but became a famous architect in San Francisco. Back in 1909 he was on his grand tour of Europe and spent time studying art at École beaux-arts in Paris. As far as I can tell he never tried to make painting a profession. Many of the homes he built in San Francisco are still standing and have a similar character as the one depicted in the watercolor. The home he built for himself, the one in which he eventually passed away, recently sold for $3.9M.

Normally I would list something like this for a few hundred dollar and would accept offers of a hundred. This time I am going to get a little creative. I am going to list it for an absurd price and then mail a handwritten note along with a photo of the painting and a copy of his obituary to the current owners of the places he built. I will also research if he has any living relatives. Worst case scenario, they learn something about their home. Best case, they decide they need to have the painting.

Not quite sure why I enjoy this kind of thing so much.

Image

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Seppia
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Seppia »

Ego wrote:
Fri Jan 14, 2022 3:23 pm
At the time I couldn't believe my luck. To this day I still can't.
The real secret to a great life is to be lucky with your partner.
I can relate and would not exchange my luck with anything on this planet

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

Seppia wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 3:29 pm
The real secret to a great life is to be lucky with your partner.
There are times when I am sure that this kind of luck is something we make ourselves and other times when I am absolutely convinced it is just plain old dumb luck. Maybe someday I will figure it out.

In the meantime I sit here enjoying my tea as I watch the sunrise while across the room in the Murphy bed Mrs. Ego is sound asleep. I am tempted to wake her so we can watch the sun come up together, but I know from years of experience that it is better not to disturb her sleep.

take2
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by take2 »

Ego wrote:
Mon Mar 07, 2022 9:14 am
There are times when I am sure that this kind of luck is something we make ourselves and other times when I am absolutely convinced it is just plain old dumb luck. Maybe someday I will figure it out.
It’s clearly both. Plain old dumb luck that you found it in the first place but identifying what it is and making a joint decision to keep it going is the luck you make yourselves.

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Seppia
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Seppia »

I’m with take2.
While in part it’s true we make our own luck, some things are really outside of our control.
I firmly believe any “fantastic” outcome is a product of both good process and great luck.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by SavingWithBabies »

Ego wrote:
Sun Mar 06, 2022 3:01 pm
Not quite sure why I enjoy this kind of thing so much.
Maybe because your reconnecting lost threads and fighting the good fight against all that is lost with the passage of time. If someone in one of these houses does buy it (and it would be awesome if they did for both you and them), they'll have reconnected this painting back to the house back to the man and it will likely get passed forward. I realize just as likely it'll get taken off the wall when the house later changes hands and take another random walk but maybe it won't. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes in a while.

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

SavingWithBabies wrote:
Wed Mar 09, 2022 2:11 pm
Maybe because your reconnecting lost threads .....
You're right. That is exactly what it is. Your post reminded me to take on a project I've been meaning to do for a while.

Last summer I posted this in the ERE motivations thread:
Ego wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:30 pm
A few months ago I purchased several paintings that were owned by a Mexican film producer and her American industrialist husband. They had a daughter who was childless. The daughter had them in storage when she passed away. I bought them from the guy who purchased the abandoned storage locker at auction. He threw in a box full of their old photos, letters, passports and travel journals which would help me to prove provenance for the paintings.

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A box of discarded items like this helps to focus the attention. What am I doing and why am I doing it?
Around Christmas I did a bit of googling and something I saw made me think that the daughter was not dead. I don't remember what it was and now I can't find the page that made me think she had not passed away, but after you posted this reply I decided to see if I could get contact info for her. I've had an account at Melissa.com for years and have some credits. I am not sure how I got the credits because I've never paid for anything on the site but they were there so I used one to search her name. Everything I needed was right there.

I called and left a message. She just now responded. She was very excited to hear that I have the photos, passports, letters and travel journals from her parents. She is away until next month and will contact me to get them when she returns.

MBBboy
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by MBBboy »

That is absolutely amazing. I'm not a mushy, touchy feely kind of guy.....but that hit me in the gut

SavingWithBabies
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by SavingWithBabies »

Wow! She must be ecstatic. That was very nice of you to do!

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

I will be sure to let you know how it goes when she comes to pick it up.

Today one of my friends showed up with another Zarges case for $20. This one was wired to hold something with serious electronics. The charger and large military lithium-ion battery were still inside. It has wheels and a handle. I believe I am now covered for zombie apocalypse storage solution.

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A few weeks ago I bought several military CBNR suits at the swap meet. They are selling like crazy on ebay right now.

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Ego
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by Ego »

Many of the art buyers pay $20 to enter the biggest, best swap meet an hour earlier than everyone else and get very competitive with one another to find the best deals. There are times when it brings out ugly characteristics in them. While I can compete, I am fortunate that I don't have to. I drive to a different swap in the rural "hick" area and am usually the only person buying art. I arrive at the big swap around the time it is opening for regular folks and have managed to keep good relations with the more cut throat art buyers and sellers.

Yesterday I arrived and the big swap and found a spectacular cubist painting behind a pile of junk. The seller was asking $25. I was able to make out the artist's name and google led me to a wikipedia page, the existence of which is a good indication of high value, so I bought it.

As I walked back to my car one of the art buyers noticed it, laughed and said, "You know that's a reproduction right?" I didn't and told him so. It looked to me like an original painting with brush strokes and texture. He laughed even harder and said, "Did you really think an original (artist name) would be here?" I told him I had never heard of the artist. I think my honesty brought him down from the hyper-competitive high he had been operating on all morning. I could almost see it click when he realized he was being a dick. He said, "Oh, sorry,...." and then went on to tell me everything he knew about the artist and the technique used to create reproductions like this one that are so good they look like real paintings.

Mrs. Ego gasped when I got it home. I told her the story and she said, "Well I love it", as she rearranged our paintings to make room on one of the walls. Now that I had time to do research I used some of the information he gave me and discovered that the artist is indeed well known but not in museums. He is known to collectors. I was surprised to discover that his reproductions sell for a lot because they are so rare. Comps on the art sites show two reproductions sold many years ago for more than a thousand dollars. None have been available for sale since then.

Of course, I won't say anything the next time I see him. I know that there are several lessons there but I have not quite figured them out yet.

-----

Went to make my SEP-IRA contribution last week and learned the our credit union no longer allows contributions for the previous year.... what?! Had to open a new account with a different institution. Strange.

theanimal
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by theanimal »

Great story. It seems like a curse of knowledge/expertise in that he's casting off opportunities based on some fixed knowledge set. "This is how the way works, there can be nothing gained from this domain." If anything, a reminder to question our own beliefs and update them when things change.

No pictures of the painting? :)

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Ego
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Post by Ego »

theanimal wrote:
Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:20 pm
It seems like a curse of knowledge/expertise in that he's casting off opportunities based on some fixed knowledge set. "This is how the way works, there can be nothing gained from this domain." If anything, a reminder to question our own beliefs and update them when things change.
Yeah, I agree. It is a common phenomenon in this industry because people hit it big by finding something extremely valuable and then spend the rest of their lives searching for that same thing over and over again. I am trying to fight this mindset myself by being open to learning anything.

Right now military gear is selling like crazy and we get tons of it here. https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryGear/ has been very helpful.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Ego's Journal

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Many professional book dealers are of the photographic/encyclopedic knowledge mindset, particularly those who specialize in history. At the other end of the spectrum, some dealers treat books like any other good that can be rote scanned for internet value. They move down a table like an inventory robot. My sister and I rely largely on general knowledge and intuition, because that’s how our brains work. There’s room for all types in the scavenger markets.

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