• 2 Pokemon Soul Silver Nintendo DS Games – Paid $24 each – Asking $56 Each
  (1 sold)
• Reusch Goaliator Pro-Tec Goalkeeper Gloves – Paid $24 – Auction starting $99.99

So overall I spent the most I have spent all summer, a total of around $75 bucks or so, but I stand to make $200+. I think it was a good day today. It is always fun to go to a place like that and find some brand new things instead of constantly listing used goods from thrift shops.

Thanks for reading and keep picking. I can’t  stress enough that there is money out there to be made, you just have to find it.

Brian

This Macintosh SE still works, outside of the fact that I’ve never seen the hard disk activity light blink.  It runs System 7.0 and seems to have been upgraded from the stock 1MB RAM to 4MB.  At the moment this is my oldest working Macintosh.

In my post about the original Macintosh I said that machine held a lot of promise but was incomplete.  The Macintosh Plus vastly improved the situation in 1986 by adding 1MB of RAM standard and a SCSI port for adding a hard drive.  But considering how many pictures you see of Mac Pluses sitting atop an external hard drive you can’t really call that machine totally complete either.

The Macintosh concept really lent itself to having an internal hard drive.

It wasn’t until 1987 when the Macintosh SE was released with an option for a built-in hard drive and the Apple Desktop Bus for peripheral accessories that you could really say for the first time the original vision of the compact Macintosh was complete.  In addition there was an expansion slot crammed in the back of the machine (behind Torx screws), which is where Apple got the “System Expansion” moniker from.  The SE was based on the same Motorola MC68000 CPU running at 7.83Mhz as all previous compact Macintosh models but added a fan that probably led to increased reliability due to better cooling.

It’s notable then that at the same time the Macintosh SE was released in March 1987 the Macintosh II was also released, which totally changed the conception of what the Macintosh was.

Some time in 1989 my mother visited a computer store in west Akron and picked up some Apple brochures that sat preserved in a drawer for years until I found them.  From one of those brochures, here is the state of the Macintosh lineup in early 1989.

The Macintosh II was basically the Macintosh re-imagined as an open, expandable desktop personal computer in the vein of the IBM PC AT and was based on the more powerful Motorola MC68020 CPU.

The Macintosh II implicitly admitted the Mac platform was too expensive to be the “computer for everyone” and finally dispensed with the appliance pretenses of the compact Macs.  Instead, Apple positioned the Macintosh II as a business workstation priced at a cool $5500 (before you bought a video card and monitor…Ouch).  People were doing desktop publishing and graphics design on Macintoshes before the Macintosh II but I suspect that once you used a 13in 640×480 screen and enjoyed the benefits of what was then a fantastical amount of RAM and the 68020 CPU you were loathed to go back to a 68000-based compact Macintosh like my SE.

So there’s a certain disappointment to the historical fact that by the time Apple built a compact Macintosh that really paid off the original concept the future was pointing to expandable Macintoshes that resembled desktop PCs.

With that said, if you had purchased this machine at the time, I suspect that you were very happy with it.

When you sit down with one of these machines at a desk you quickly understand how the subtle angle of the front of the machine puts the screen right in line with where you eyes want to look.  The lovely glow the 9″ black and white CRT focuses your attention despite it’s small size.  I think this would have been an enjoyable machine to own in 1987-1989, even considering that the price tag at the time for the model that included this 20MB hard drive would have been somewhere substantially north of $3000.  Plus, you could play Shufflepuck.

The Macintosh SE is also the best example I own of Apple’s Snow White design language, which saw it’s heyday in the Macintosh line from 1987 to 1990.  Previously I’ve talked about how I love the angular, metallic look of many pieces of 80s electronics.  Snow White goes in the opposite direction by emphasizing ornamentation and subtle curves in injection molded off-white plastic.  The overall effect is stunning.  It’s somehow very 1980s but at the same time stands out among other designs.

You can learn more about the different components of Snow White from Ed Tracy’s excellent 1998 graduate school project about Apple’s industrial design.  You may have also seen these wild prototypes that came out of the studies that designer Hartmut Esslinger from Frog Design created for Apple while developing the Snow White look.  One of the first Snow White products was the memorable Apple IIc, which may be my favorite looking computer, period.

The idea behind Snow White was to take full advantage of the fact that Apple used injection-molded plastic cases rather than the sheet metal other computers used.  If computers need air vents for cooling anyways, why not adorn plastic computer cases with horizontal and vertical lines that look like vents so they distract your attention from where the real vents are?

On the front of the Macintosh SE this results in a “grill” that contains the floppy drive, the hard drive indicator light and an air vent.

Adding the grill drastically changes the appearance of the front of the machine as compared to the original Macintosh case, even though both machines have basically the same dimensions.  The front of the original Macintosh is dominated by the large bevels that surround the floppy disk drive where on the SE the floppy disk is de-emphasized as a thin line that matches the rest of the grill.

My favorite Snow White design element is the pedestal of vertical lines along the base of the Macintosh SE and the Macintosh II series cases.

The lines on the pedestal help to conceal the air vents on the side of the machine that had been much more apparent on the previous compact Macintosh cases.

Sadly, the pedestal feature is often hidden behind the keyboard sitting in front of the computer.

Apple also produced monitors, CD drives, external hard drives, printers, scanners, and other accessories with Snow White designs from about 1986-1990.  A fellow could fall down a deep rabbit hole collecting all of them.

I’m somewhat enamored with the various Snow White computers and accessories.  In my opinion the Snow White designs have so much more personality than practically every other personal computer ever made, including Apple’s current product line.  Plastic might be out of vogue today, but Snow White showed us that plastic can be just as profound as brushed metal.

Before I really dug into learning about the Snow White look, I thought the Macintosh SE looked a bit funky.  The loss of the beveled edges the original Macintosh introduced gives the Macintosh SE a fat “chin” below the floppy drive.  If you sit a big keyboard in front of it so that the main Snow White feature you’re looking at is the grill below the screen, the machine loses at lot of it’s appeal.  However, as I have read more about Snow White I have come to appreciate the appearance of the Macintosh SE.

Yesterday, after the rain moved out, I ran (okay mostly walked) about 6 miles.  I was able to maintain a pace of a little less than 13’30” which is really good since the marathon minimum is 16’00” – I do have to admit though that six miles is a long way!  I was good up until about Mile 4; then I started thinking it was a really good thing that I was two miles from home or I would have quit!  Today is just a short 30-minute maintenance run; I’m saving the big runs for Saturdays from here on out. 

Yesterday afternoon, I headed off to Goodwill and Target to buy a few things to decorate the house.  No furniture was moved and no walls were painted this week, but it wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t do something to change it up a little before everyone gets home. 

Of course, last night I stayed up way too late again and then a storm rolled in sometime in the early morning which had me up and not sleeping.  When I finally fell asleep soundly, I missed my alarm clock this morning and as a result missed church and Kindergarten Sunday school!  Have I mentioned that I’m glad my family will be back to help me get into a real routine?  It’s a really good thing that I don’t live alone – balance is NOT one of my strong points.  Okay, I don’t think it’s really “balance” – I think it’s just the bedtime thing.  I don’t know why a woman in her 40’s has a hard time turning off the lights and going to bed at a decent time.  It’s not just that the house is so big; I struggle with the same thing when I stay in hotel rooms!  Go figure… 

So, I took advantage of the last of my alone time today to get organized for this week – Doodle has a couple of final papers due for school that I need to make time to review; LooHoo is off to Arizona to visit family; and K-Cat needs to work twice as hard on school to finish on time with her sisters.  Should be a fun week…

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NEW YORK—Falun Dafa practitioner Yi Fan did not want to move to America when she left China two-and-a-half years ago because she wished to let more Chinese people know that Falun Dafa is good. Falun Dafa is a self-cultivation practice involving gentle exercise, meditation, and a teaching of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.

Fan was living under constant threat of arbitrary arrest and torture. She was imprisoned for many years and tortured for telling the truth about Falun Gong, but she said she would have never renounced her belief in the practice or disavowed its principles.

“A lot of people in China are fooled by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], by their lies,” she said through a translator. Fan, nearly 60 years old, finally surrendered to her daughter’s pleas to leave the mainland and move to the United States, and she immediately discovered the joy of freely practicing Falun Dafa again.

On Saturday, May 18, Fan was part of an annual Falun Dafa parade, surrounded by hundreds of brightly colored banners, and standing in line with nearly 8,000 other practitioners from all over the world.

After seeing the parade Ms. Zeng, a spectator, said the Chinese government cannot suppress Falun Gong. More and more people are participating and Falun Gong is well respected, she said.

Read Full Article Here

Related articles

• NYC Grand Parade Reveals History of Falun Dafa (behindlies09.wordpress.com)
• Falun Dafa Exercise Practice in Manhattan’s Roosevelt Park (theepochtimes.com)
• World Falun Dafa Day in New York (theepochtimes.com)
• Rescued by Falun Dafa (behindlies09.wordpress.com)
• Meditators Radiate Peacefulness from New York City (zen-haven.com)
• Singapore Falun Gong: Commemorating the Peaceful April 25 Appeal 新加坡法轮功学员纪念”四二五”和平上访十四周年 (kunalshawn.wordpress.com)
• Epoch Times: An Excuse for Genocide (kunalshawn.wordpress.com)

It’s a bit worn and too big for me, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing it.

I’m really going to miss this show, but I think NBC will miss it more.

]]> http://owfotografik.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/sun-flower-rising/ Sun, 19 May 2013 17:38:12 +0000 owfotografik http://owfotografik.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/sun-flower-rising/ It is either the rising sun or the flower raising it’s petals to the sun.
I started with a photograph of a sunflower and modified it a bit. I painted and reflected the original image into a whole new image. I am retaining as much of the original textures as possible.

Volunteers collected enough household items to fill two Goodwill trucks. This is the fourth year  Wash U and Goodwill have teamed up for the collection drive.

Volunteers collected enough household items to fill two Goodwill trucks. This is the fourth year  Wash U and Goodwill have teamed up for the collection drive.

ugg saddle bag

jingly tags

this ugg purse is one of my favorite scores from my spot, goodwill. i got it the same time i got my famed stolen calvin klein purse. sometimes, when it rains, it pours at that location, like my recent trip. i got this for $10, half off of $20. this is some of the softest leather that isn’t pebbled or italian. i didn’t have anything like this, so it was a very welcome addition to the family.

several of my friends have begged me to let them have this purse (you know who you are). the answer is no. when will i ever be able to afford a purse like this unless i get it at a resale store? the 12th of never, that’s when.

confession: this was hard to write today, because a friend of mine said on facebook that i should auction all of these purses off on the last day to “cleanse my soul”. this has really bothered me. the whole reason i took this on was to do something for myself, learn something about myself, and perhaps about my love of bags. i don’t think my soul needs cleansing. at least, not the way he suggested. i immediately got defensive and started to type a response, then i’d erase it. i started again, and again – but every response felt defensive. i don’t have a need or desire to defend my purse collection. if anyone thinks that my large collection makes me selfish, a hoarder, vacuous, materialistic, or whatever, that’s fine. i know myself and the good and bad i do in the world. after a day of struggling with that comment, i’m at peace. so is my soul. for now. i do have a kid about to graduate, remember? the peace doesn’t always last for long, but i certainly know how to seek it and find it. and on that note, i’m headed to church for Pentecost. peace.

Housing is pretty affordable here, compared to Maryland.  After calling close to a dozen potential matches, I settled on a nice 2br 2ba apartment near my new job.  Of course I don’t need that much room just for myself, but I’m looking ahead here.  For now I can make the 2nd bedroom my office.  Plus, my relationship with Leah is getting stronger every day.  God-willing, I’ll need the extra bedroom for her little boy after I pop that question.  :-)

Speaking of Leah, her and I talked briefly last night about church.  Both of us grew up going there on most Sundays and both of us would like her son to have the same experience.  I’m so thankful that she wants that for him because I believe the absence of it is a big problem in our society.  Church people aren’t perfect, but most of them are trying to do right.  I can think of a lot of other places (bars and dance clubs in particular) where people aren’t trying to do right.  The world wants us to believe that church is bad, but which group of people do you believe are trying to do something good for someone else?  Maybe you don’t agree, but it’s worth considering anyway.

I’ll wrap this up by saying that the sheer number of churches in Alabama is one of my favorite things about living here.  Whichever denomination suits you best, there’s likely one close by.  After I move into that apartment next month, I’ll begin branching out into the area to see if I can find one that suits me.  Are your activities lifting someone else up in a positive way, or are they destructive to you or someone else?  God loves you.  He also needs you to share His love with the world.  Seek Him and you will find the peace that’s missing from your life.  God Bless you.

-E

Pick #1 – Goodwill

On pick number one, I was actually in Goodwill looking for a copy of The Great Gatsby to read it before I see the movie. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to look around to see if I could make some extra money. I found a Super Nintendo (SNES) box, and picked it up instantly without looking inside. I paid $7. Here is what I actually found inside and what I listed it for on eBay.

• Original Nintendo Entertainment System and 3 controllers – $55 (sold)
• Contra Game for NES – $25 (sold)
• ActRaiser Instruction Manual – $3.50 (sold)
• Super Mario World Instruction Manual – $3.50
• Toe Jam and Earl Sega Genesis Poster – $7
• Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Sega Genesis Poster – $7
• Super Nintendo Box and Instruction Manual – $20 (auction style up to $21 now)

Overall paid a little bit over $7 dollars and before eBay and paypal fees, I’ll have made $121 and counting.

Pick #2 – Goodwill

On pick number two, I decided to focus a little bit on clothes. At the Goodwill, all the shirts are usually $4.50 each. I also picked up a camera for $2. Here’s what I picked up and what I listed it for on eBay.

• Brooks Brothers long sleeve T-Shirt – $20
• Brooks Brothers Striped Button Down – $25 (sold)
• Iron Man 3 Premiere 3D glasses – $7
• Sony Handycam Camcorder – $52 (sold)

I paid $0.27 for the 3D glasses, so they were worth the risk. Overall I spent $11.27 before tax, and will make $104 before eBay and paypal fees.

Pick #3 – Salvation Army and City Thrift

I decided to switch it up and go to a couple different thrift stores, and picked up a couple decent things. I bought a Jeff Gordon shirt for $4 and a Fraternity stein for $2. The Jeff Gordon Shirt has sold on eBay before for $30. Here are the items and what I listed them for.

• Jeff Gordon Vintage Dupont Shirt – $30
• Delta Tau Delta Fraternity Stein – $20

So overall I spent $6 before tax, and will make $50 before eBay and paypal fees.

I’ll continue to post my picking finds for all of you. Thanks for reading, and ask any questions you might have!! Keep picking everyone!

Brian

To provide a little bit of background, I have been around eBay since 2002 when my parents first started their account. They began selling shoes and random things, and eventually it became somewhat of a part time job for them. My mom runs the account now, and she is a power seller with over 3200 positive feedback, and countless more sales.

I just started my own eBay account less than a year ago, and as a college kid, it is a great way to earn a little bit of extra money. I don’t really have anything all that great of my own to sell on eBay, but I love to go to different thrift stores to find hidden gems to sell. I currently have 27 feedback and have sold over 50 items on eBay under my own account.

This blog will be dedicated to telling you all about the things that I find, and how I listed them and what I made.

Brian

Dragon?

You’re probably asking yourself, “But how will I lose this row of bicycle tires in time to accept my crown as Big Kahuna of Venice Beach?” SLIMNASTICS is how. SLIMNASTICS is an ancient exercise technique of foolish looking, and ineffective body positions that you can struggle to achieve in the comfort of your own living room (with the lights off and all the shades drawn).

SLIMASTICS is designed by Dr. Charles A. Bucher, a guy famous for doing stuff (his resume is on the back sleeve in case you question his academic prodigiousness). With one side of the record devoted for men, and the other for women, Dr. Bucher engulfs your home stereo system and coaches you, step-by-step, on how to touch your toes and lift your arms. He’s offered a series of Picturegrams (I’m pretty sure ol’ Charlie made this word up) that oversimplify the insanely complex technique known as the push-up (among others).

Dig through your box of “To Goodwill” clothes and adorn those embarrassingly tight running shorts because Dr. Charles A. Bucher and his award-winning exercise program, SLIMNASTICS, are going to fool you into believing you can achieve social acceptance with a slim, new, beach-friendly body.

(The Prudent Groove is not responsible if you do not achieve social acceptance with your slim, new, beach-friendly body.)

Work caused some sporadic posting the last couple of weeks, but we are back with a week of Hank Snow’s hits to make up for it. Probably his best known song (though not his song). There is a reason so many versions of this song have been recorded.

I’ve been staying with my parents since my accident, I’m thankful they took me in, and cared for me. However, I’ll be going back to my place next week for sure because that’s when my back brace comes in!

I don’t have much at my parents, two necklaces, some shirts, and some jeans. But I decided one thing, my accident would not interfere with my love for style. So I decided to make the best of what I had, threw on an outfit, curled my hair, and did my make up for work.

Here’s a Quick Style Tip: always have some accessories on hand because if you’re ever in a rut they can be a quick fashion saver!

I laid in the sun yesterday but I made sure to do the whole ensemble too. Why? Because a true fashionista does not get dressed to impress others, she dresses nice for herself.

So yes, I might be stuck in bed a lot these days but I’ll still post up glowing posts for my fellow readers because beauty never leaves you.

I’m really excited for my back brace to come in, my doctor says that once it comes in I can sit up and go on walks. Which means I can edit my photos from the runway show! So stay tuned for those.

P.S. Life happens but never let it interfere with your beauty, you’re in charge of how you look.

Note: I’m wearing a temporary brace and you can definitely see it underneath this shirt but it shows me how strong and stylish I am!

Shirt – Target

Purse – Coach

Jeans – Goodwill

Necklace – H&M

Shoes – Express

Every other time, if I came across a St Vinnies or a Salvos store, garage sale and even a roadside gem, I’d engage.  Perhaps it’s the stylist in me, but there was nothing better than finding amazing things for equally amazing prices!  I would scour and forage and come out smiling….those were the days.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, and I remember it fondly rather than longingly.  As with my sartorial style, my interior style has also taken on my new modus operandi ─ necessary.quality.capsule.

As I said it’d been a long time……until a few Fridays ago, when I was thrown a chance to dig deep in my hood’s Goodwill store.  Oh joy!  And oh joy it was, as this time, I came up GOLD!  There were so many fantabulous goodies for the taking (& re-making) but I simply let my imagination run wild with pleasure, & then stuck to my guns ─ that if something popped up that was also on my need-list, was in excellent condition and with the right price tag, then I could call on my consummate-consumer and acquire!

And this is what happened, and what came home with me…

♥ Some LuciteLove always!  I found these 6 dishes for just $3.  They are perfect for holding my jewellery currently located in drawers in my bedroom, & also for dainty desk-detritus.  This is definitely my interior aesthetic and I couldn’t help smiling big on the outside and in!

♥ Oh, hello leather max-pencil skirt!  This darling was so serendipitous, that as soon as I lay eyes on her, I knew she was mine, and the perfect fit for my impending, capsule Winter wardrobe.

♥ You know, I have never owned a mortar & pestle!  And I have always wanted to, especially of late, where making in the kitchen starts ‘from scratch’!  ─ this pair was still in the box with the original price sticker on it.  With its wicked weightiness, the ideal size, and $10 price tag, I gleefully scooped up the newest-addition-to-my-kitchen-family.

It feels great to feel so blissful, and not because I simply went shopping or got my retail-therapy hit.  It’s more that I can be frugal in my consumer-stance as well as with my dollars;  It’s that I can still consume and go shopping, but only more mindfully, and only for what I really need.  It makes sense.

I hope you enjoy the images of my Holy Trinity of Mindful Happiness, as much as I am enjoying using them.  I have to add that every time I am now in my kitchen, and I get a glimpse of my mortar & pestle, I have to smile…it’s true.  And for those of you who know me and know that I am not intrinsically master-chef-inclined, you’d understand the magnanimity of this simple joy

Oh, and I am looking forward to having my skirt on high rotation for both work meetings and drinks with my dames!