This is the week I should have gone up to the Turtle Lake Casino! My luck is still holding today. Let me explain.
Last week friday, I decided I had to come to the juncture where I really want to buy an all mahogany (including top) guitar, OOO-12 fret size, with a classic slot head peghead. (the small photo on the left)
I searched the net for a used one but to no avail. then I began to look around at on line music stores to see who would give me the best price. I finally found two sites that carried the guitar at $699.99 without a hard shell case - without a case at all, in fact!
Still, after looking around at hard shell cases I figured I could get a fairly good case for $95 plus shipping. So now I was really determined to get that guitar. but how? I ain't got no guitar money floating around!
so I looked over my arsenal of guitars and picked out the acoustic that I love the least, a high end Epiphone "Elitist Texan" flat top, very similar to the one Paul McCartney recorded "Yesterday"with. I looked around for used Texans and found that they have become rare as Epiphone ceased making them in 2004 I did find one that a store was touting at $1199.00.
So I decided to post on eBay - opening bid at $700 and "Buy It Now" at $900.00. I laid out the ad and punched sell and went away from the computer to take my morning ablutions.
10 minutes later, wrapped in a towel, I hear the ding for mail and I can't believe it! Someone has just offered me $800.00 cash if I sell it to him today.
By Friday afternoon, I have shipped the guitar and ordered the Recording King ROS-616 through amazon.com. I am assured of a Thursday, June 30 delivery.
Saturday morning I am back at the office putzing around trying to find a good picture of my new axe when I stumble upon a web site in Maryland: FineAcoustics.com. I go to their list of Recording King guitars and there it is, the ROS- 616 for $640.00 INCLUDING A HARD SHELL CASE!!
First I am furious that I didn't spend more time looking yesterday. Then I wonder if I have the option to cancel the guitar I ordered through Amazon. so I quickly bring up my order from Amazon and their policy clearly states that I can cancel as long as my item has not yet shipped. And it won't ship until Monday!
My fingers fairly flew accomplishing that act.
So I saved around $160 on the deal! I am on a roll!
Then I leave Sunday morning for two days with my friend Tom Johnson who is up in Superior, Wisconsin, working on redecorating the interior of his late mother's house.
Having read recently that to save gasoline you should make 60 MPH your top speed on the highway, I decide to see if it makes a difference in my mileage. My Scion xB is rated at 26 mpg in town and 32 mpg on the highway,
When I get home on Tuesday morning, I calculate it: I got 35 mpg - and with gasoline at $3.64 a gallon, I just saved $10.95! That's it for me, man! You can pass me and give me the finger - I am driving 60 mph!
Back to luck story;
So I go over to the office and reach in the refrigerator for a carton of yogurt and that sickening smell of thawed refrigerator greets my nose.
I, of course, immediately go into panic mode and figure that it's the compressor. Kim asks if I checked to see if it was plugged in all the way, but what does she know?
I go to Best Buy and price refrigerators - the cheapest being $358 with tax. I go to Sears. They are more expensive.
I talk to Ron Wendt, our carpenter, and he asks if the light inside the unit comes on when I open the door - well, no, it doesn't. then it may well not be the compressor or the light would turn on. It has to be electrical.
So back to the office I go, wrench the refrigerator out so as to get at the outlet. Well, it's plugged in. I try the other outlet, still nothing.
I stretch the refrigerator power cord to its limit and plug it in to an outlet in the kitchen and voila! It kicks in! I don't need a new refrigerator!
But then something more ominous comes to mind - an electrician at $85 per first hour and $60 per each additional hour. so I call Kelly electric and the truck arrives at 1PM this afternoon. He does some testing here and there and finds the source of the problem in less than half an hour - there are two circuit breakers that are so worn out that they click off by themselves.
The service guy is very helpful and spends the rest of his hour labeling all the fuses and circuit breakers - we work together using walkie-talkies and he finishes before the hour is complete!
Total bill with parts? $127.32. Tell ya what - that's a hell of a lot better than all new wiring or a new refrigerator!
Let's go to Turtle Lake, man! I am HOT!
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