May 10, 2007
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Today
Read an ad on craigslist for a Vanagon fiberglass bumper for $200. And if you know anything at all about Vanagon fiberglass bumpers, it’s that they’re not actually made of fiberglass, they’re made of unobtainium, and a $200 bumper is like a $50 Rolex, except it’s actually a Rolex. The cheapest new-condition Vanagon fiberglass bumper in the US is $750.
I called the dude, and he told me all kinds of stories about how a dozen people from all over the country had emailed or called about it, and I was the lucky one, because I was local and had cash in hand. I don’t doubt this part of the story at all.
It is in good shape, although I doubt it’s actually brand new like he says. Dude says: “You can just paint it black with Krylon and then paint your other bumper, too, and it’ll look good.” Uhm, no. The proper color isn’t that much more expensive than Krylon, and will be just as easy to paint, and it won’t look like crap when it starts to flake. Because it won’t. And even if I did just save maybe $500, there’s no need for it to look cheap.
But now I’m thinking about selling it. I could make $150 easy. Even though he was less than honest about the condition of the piece, he did admit that he lowballed the price just to get rid of it. I wouldn’t even have to unload it from the van; just list it on craigslist and it would be gone before the weekend. Hmmmmm…
So this all took place in Issaquah, and on the way back, I stopped at the Goodwill on Rainier. And then I needed gas, so I went down to the Duwamish industrial area where the nearest gas happens to be, and since I was so close, I went to RePC.
And at RePC, I got this:
That’s an Apple Quicktake 150, state-of-the-art digital camera from 1995, which I photographed with my laptop’s built-in camera that’s smaller than a postage stamp. You see, things advance in 12 years, which is one of the reasons the grease pencil writing on the camera says ‘AS-IS $2.00.’
It’s funny, because I’d have to set up my old PowerMac to download images from it. But it shoots RAW! 640×480! w00!
It’s also funny because the advantage of the Quicktake 150 over the Quicktake 100 is that you can hook it up to a Windows computer. And I bet a current Windows machine would both a) have a serial port, and b) run the software to let me download the images… O irony.
Comments (4)
you look like a robber baron who has builded the transcontinental railway! you are very happy with your purchases!
and *krylon*? wtf? tacky.
there are worse things than krylon. my ex-brother-in-law’s father once painted his car with a roller and a can of latex wall paint.. needless to say, it didn’t last.
lucky find…
I have a floppy disk Sony camera with a fabulous lens… still trying to figure out what to do with it