Faith in humanity

I've been selling a few things on Gumtree -- the Australian analogue of Craigslist.

I do a "reverse eBay" approach:  I post the item at a somewhat optimistic price, and then on Monday or Tuesday of each week I lower the price a little bit.  At some point, the market value  intersects with my listed price.

The pictured guitar was now down to $30 (it has a few quirks, such as a repaired headstock), and although I'd had a few time-wasting inquiries, no one had shown any serious interest.  But then!  Someone messaged me (through the Gumtree site), and said he'd take it today, for $35 (i.e. a five dollar bonus), if I was willing to deliver it to him -- about a 15 minute drive away.

Now, the norm is for buyers to come to the seller.  But I'd had the guitar listed for a few months already, so I figured, "Eh; sure."  But the whole drive there, I was having reservations:  the guy's messaging had been a little stand-off-ish, and the potential buyer had no real investment or commitment to buying it.

I completely understand that a person would not want to commit to buying a musical instrument that she/he had not examined in person -- but I had visions of the guy going "(Strum, strum...) Nah -- I don't want it after all."

So, I get there, text the guy that I'm there, get to the front door -- and this smiling young guy (high-school?) answers the door.  He says that he just moved here, and that he left his guitar behind and wanted a guitar to play.  He speaks with a tiny bit of an accent, and when a middle-aged woman of a different race comes to the door as well, I infer that he's perhaps an exchange student (or possibly a boarder).  And:  because December is summer in Australia, it's around the start of a new school year...

Anyhow:  he liked the guitar, and paid me the money.  I asked if he had any guitar picks, and he said he didn't so I offered him a choice of the two I carry with me in my coin purse. 


So:  happiness all around.  An my faith in humanity was restored.


--GG

Optimism

"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."
          -- Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)

(Ed note: However, I personally have no need for inconvenience **or** adventure. --GG)


 "Opportunities multiply as they are seized."
          -- Sun Tzu


"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
          -- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)


(Source, for all:  http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/quotes.html)


--GG

Good karma perhaps

So, as a spiff to myself for logging an insane amount of hours (I get paid by the hour) over this recent project report -- and perhaps as compensation for my lack of sleep -- I bought two guitar effects pedals off of Amazon. These are lower-priced models, and ones that (oddly) you can't buy locally, here in Australia.

Placed the order about two weeks ago. From two different sellers, listing through Amazon.

One pedal was about forty bucks Australian, plus ten bucks international shipping: fair enough.

The other (pictured) was fifty bucks Australian, and forty bucks international shipping. YEOW!!! I exited out of that transaction -- but then came back to it the next day, figuring that (1) I really did want that pedal, and (2) there weren't any other sellers on Amazon that were shipping internationally. So, I went with it.


Two days ago, I got an automated message from Amazon, saying that it had been a fair while since I'd placed the order, and the sell had not yet shipped it (or charged my credit card), and that I could inquire to the seller if I wanted. So I did, politely.

The seller responded quickly, and said there was a delay from the manufacturer, so there was a back-order of a few weeks: they'd send me the item when they got them back in stock. I replied saying fine, no problem, just checking in to the situation.

The seller then replied to **my** reply, saying they just received their re-stock; they'd ship it out today; and that she was **waiving my shipping fees**!!! Again, this was the pedal with the (unreasonably?) high international shipping fee.


So, the more-expensive pedal will actually end up costing me **less** than the cheaper pedal. I'm O.K. with that. :)

Dunno whether she waived the shipping just because I was nice -- or whether she would've done it regardless. Either way: I graciously accept the overture. ;)


For the record: the one that was on back-order is a heavy metal -voiced distortion pedal, with an optional sub-octave component. The other one -- which should be arriving any day now -- is an auto-wah (sometimes known as an envelope filter).


--GG

Not that bad

One of my blog readers kindly expressed sympathy for my turbulent week.

But really -- in the bigger scheme of things, it's been fine. Roof over my head, food on the table, happy & healthy family, etc.

Yeah, getting laid off is a bit of a nuisance -- esp. if I end up at another university (cleaning out my desk; new e-mail account and password...). But I have high hopes that something will turn up.


--GG

Gives me hope for the future

Today while grabbing a bite to eat at a multi-national fast-food corporation, I saw two people in their early to mid 20s. Their manner of interacting showed that they were **clearly** dating.

Both were speaking English -- but judging by their accents, both were immigrants to this country. And judging by their appearance and the differing tonalities of their accents, they each came from completely different continents.

I like that: it gives me hope for the future.


My wife commented that their parents, however, might not be too happy about their dating. Maybe that's true; maybe that isn't. But if their parent's **aren't** happy about it, perhaps that's the kick up the backside that the parents NEED.


--GG

More to life than work

So, this weekend was the end of The Lady's two weeks of vacation -- all of which we've spent with her wrangling the kids, and me working on this project for work.

(The exception was Saturdays, which are ''swimming lessons and errands day'', where we **both** wrangle the kids.)


Today (Sunday), I went **pphbbbtttt!!!** on my project, and we spent the day hanging out as a family.

• Multinational hamburger chain for breakfast, where the kids played on the playground
• Dropped off books at the library
• Then off to an antiques mall that we hadn't visited for a looong time (the 2yo twins had to be strapped in to the stroller, to prevent expensive ''accidents'')
• Swing by the multinational hamburger chain again for toilet useage, plus takeaway lunch
• Picnic at park, followed by hours of the kids playing
• Then, home, with playing in the back yard and sandbox, while I supervise and saw yet another (short!) log in half
  

Didn't turn the computer on **once**!!! (This blog entry was composed and posted retroactively.)

Went to bed early, too! (Read for about an hour, then to bed around 10pm.)


A good day.

Actually, they're nearly all good days. So, a **particularly** good day, then! :)


--GG

Avoid excessive self-denial

A good quote about why you can't self-deny so much that you don't enjoy the present. Found it 5/14/10; spoken by Harold Hill, in the movie The Music Man, somewhat near the end:

“Oh, my dear little librarian… You pile up enough tomorrows and you’ll find you’ve collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.”

I may use it as an audio sample in a song. Someday. ;)


--GG