Garage Sailing VIII: Some Kind of Bizzare Quirky Name

Morrie and I had a pretty good weekend with this hunt. We didn't find anything which I would call an amazing find--certainly nothing as fantastic as a NES GoldCart Zelda, but the hunt was definitely worth our while.

Lets jump into it, shall we?



First up is the level:



Not a particularly exciting item, but one which I've often found myself wanting whilst working on projects around my apartment. Cheap bastard that I am, I figured I'd eventually find one while out garage sailing, so I didn't get one at the hardware store. Turns out I was right!

The next item has something of a similar story, actually:



For some quirky reason, the walls of my apartment are tough. I have a devil of a time puncturing it with anything less than a nail and hammer. And even when I use those, half the time I end up creating a crumbly hole rather than mounting whatever it is I'm trying to hang.

This can be exceedingly frustrating for someone like me, who tends to surround himself with posters, and whiteboards, and doodles, and mirrors, and all manner of wall-hanging minutia. So, for awhile now, I've been thinking of getting a staple gun. I figured I'd have to get it from the hardware store, but I lucked out and found one at a yard sale out in a rural area where they tried to hard-sell me old used tires.

And, for your information, once I picked up staples, I discovered that this gun can drive a staple about halfway into the wall. Yeah, the wall is that tough.



I don't personally have a lot to say about the cloth napkins, as they were Morrie's purchase, not mine. She's been using them to wrap food for her lunch.



I've been hoping to find a knife block for awhile now. I've got a small one which came with my fisher-price "grown ups' first kitchen" set. Unfortunately, as I gather nicer knives (largely at other garage sales) I find I prefer to use those more, and have no block to keep them in.

This particular block turned out to be, perhaps, not the best choice, as it doesn't fit several of my older knives, meaning I presently have two blocks on my counter. Oh well! It was just a dollar.



This leaf press kit is another of Morrie's finds. She had a class a year or so ago which required her to gather a large variety of leaves to categorize and study. She quite enjoyed it, and still has her collection of leaves and notes on her shelf. This, hopefully, will aid her in continuing to study leaves. Particularly now that she lives in a new area, with (I assume) some different foliage.



A bucket of LEGO bricks hardly needs an explanation. It was actually a collection of LEGO which started me on my Garage Sailing quest last year. On my way home from a D&D game, I saw, and stopped at a Garage Sale. Amusingly, this particular sale had a number of things which I'm now ecstatic if I can find. Including NES games, and a massive bucket of LEGO for $25. One which I would have purchased if I had the money on me. I actually wrote a little bit about it on my Livejournal at the time. Which is kinda funny to look back on only about a year later.

So anyway, the point of that ramble is that when I see LEGO bricks, I buy them, because NEVER GROW UP! >.>



I found a number of books throughout the day. The Unabridged Mark Twain, The Aeneid, Medieval Myths, and The Letters of the Younger Pliny hardly need an explanation. They're classics, or about classics. "Baroness of Blood" is a Ravenloft book, and for those unaware, Ravenloft is a classic Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting. One which I've always been interested in for its darker, Gothic Fantasy style. "The Orc King" is a Drizzt book. Sue me, I enjoyed most of the Drizzt books I've read.

I almost ignored "The Nature of Monsters" the same way I ignore romance and Nora Roberts novels at garage sales. But something about the cover caught my eye and caused me to read the blurb on the back. A story about a pregnant sixteen year old in 1718 who works for a mad alchemist is amusing enough for me to add it to my shelf for future reading.



I've always kinda thought I should have jumper cables in my car. Seems like a common sense kind of thing to have.



This ended up being the item I was happiest about finding this weekend. Recently the somewhat wobbly lamp (which is the first item I ever got while out garage sailing) finally gave out, and has been sitting in pieces on my floor next to my now very poorly lit desk.

After installing an inline switch, and drilling a few holes into my ceiling for hooks, I'm quite happy with the ample illumination this lightweight lamp provides. I would buy more of these if I could find them, no doubt.

And that's what we got this weekend. What did YOU do?