Big Thrifting

I have been watching shows like Storage Wars and Pawn Stars. So, I got the bug to acquire second hand things of value. I figured I could return to the local thrift store in town to do so. I waited until Momoko had a day off. And we went early, around an hour after they opened.

The parking lot seemed full for a weekday. Up front they had jewelry. Off to the side, they had home ware wrapped in small plastic bags. I made a bee line to the first couple rows that had sporadic art. Another shopper told us the art was in the front corner of the building. Momoko grabbed a cart.

I first surveyed all the art there. I kept an eye on price. Did not want anything for $20. Felt like $10 was near the top of my range. I did pick up one item for $12.99. The cheapest was $1.99. Momoko and I paid separately. It was all self checkout. Momoko had trouble with the credit card taker. She paid cash.

The shopping cart had a pole preventing you from wheeling it out of the store. I carried stuff to the curb in front of the store. The exit door was one way and locked. I pulled the car up and loaded my goods in a no parking zone. Here are some treasure I picked up:

• A large framed portrait of dogs playing billiards. On the back was another of dog playing poker.
• A heavy mid-sized frame picture of an owl
• A black stretched outline of a baseball playing made out of words
• A photo album with an old time cover image, dirty but still nice
• A huge artwork that Momoko through looked nice
• An open top tool box with our local baseball team logo on it
  

Desk Chair Swap

I was working out in the yard. I saw some delivery guy come to our house. So, when I was done working, I went in front to see what we got. There was a large box in front of our door. It was for Little Kat. I figured I would bring it into our house. The thing was heavy. I needed the dolly to wheel it in.

Momoko thought that Little Kat broke his chair. All of a sudden, a chair appeared in our library. It did not appear to be broken. Momoko thought maybe Little Kat assembled his new chair in our library. That made no sense. Why would he not build it in his room where he needs the chair.

Later, I quizzed Little Kat. He said he upgraded his chair to one with more lumbar support. He was giving away his old chair. My brother did not want it. Little Kat thought it did not fit Momoko. I just happened to start noticing my desk chair in my study was not comfortable. So, I took the old chair and am sitting on it now. Let's see if it is comfortable in the long run.

Betting Against Avis/Budget

People noticed how bad the rental car company Avis had been doing. So, they piled on, shorting the stock. A large firm decided to just buy Avis shares. They bought about half the outstanding shares of stock. Another big firm joined in. They bought the rest of the shares. In theory, there should be no shares for the shorts to buy to close out their positions.

This was a textbook short squeeze. The stock was starting somewhere around $100. The squeeze caused the price to run up to $800. I got in and out a few times of the stock before I really understood what was happening. Then the stock dropped to around $200. I figured it was still way too high. Earning are going to be announced this Wednesday.

I transferred most of my cash from my checking account to my brokerage account. I tried to buy puts, essentially betting against the price of Avis. The brokerage denied my option trades. They want me to wait until the transfer of funds clears. This is giving me deja vu, back to when my brokerages outright prohibited shorting GameStop stock.

I had a few grand across a couple trading account. I used those meager funds to bet against Avis stock. Unfortunately, even if I am right, my profits are capped due to lack of funds to work with.

Tooth Brush Trouble

The bottom of my electric tooth brush started to smell. I clean it. The next day it smelled again. I traced it to the base of my charging station. I cleaned it as well. The smell persisted.

I started dumping mouthwash on the bottom of my tooth brush after each use. The smell kind of masked the odor. But the thing kept smelling. I used AI to find a solution. It said sometimes you just need to replace it.

I found my prior order on Amazon. I re-ordered it for $39. It was suspicious. Amazon said they would let me know when it had a shipping date. After a couple days, I figured out this meant it was on back order.

I cancelled my order. The only other options were a battery charged one for $19. No good. And a similar charging version for $49. That charging one came a day after I ordered it. I need to do a better job cleaning my tooth brush I guess.

BTS Arirang Tour

Momoko and I watched a free BTS tour teaser on Netflix. It was a 1 hour special. They sung a bunch of new songs from their new album. This week, their full world tour started in Korea. Momoko purchased an e-ticket to stream their second concert.

I wanted to watch too. So, Momoko enlisted Little Kat to help her project the concert from her laptop. Little Kat ordered a cable or two from Amazon. They did not work. In the end, he discovered Momoko's adapter had an HDMI port. We used my plain HDMI cable to connect her laptop to the big screen TV.

We woke up early this morning. Convert was to start at 6am. But you could log in as early as 5am. We were set up, watching the pre-concert show. Then we lost connection. Momoko scrambled to re-verify herself. There was no hurry. The band was 10 minutes late to start the concert.

There were trying a new concert setup. It was a 360 degree view. Their center stage rotated slowly. Their backup dancers had all kinds of items such as computer screens that show different images. They also later brought out the sheets.

At one point in the concert, the whole band walked off stage down and circled the stadium. They were singing the whole time. RM was pushed in some sort of chair on a chariot. They did a lot of talking to the fans. There was no encore. They did not play Mikromosmos, my new second favorite song. At least there was not bad weather like their tour opening show.

Adventures Flying Home

Yesterday, Little Kat and I flew home. I proposed eating outside the airport. I chose a Mexican fast food place I liked. I only ate two big chips and dip. Little Kat also had chips and dips, but added some chalupa looking thing. He had trouble connecting his phone to the car rental afterwards.

We went to go through security. I showed some guy my ticket, proving I could get in the TSA pre-check line. But when I went past it, I was confused. There were conveyor belts with lots of empty bins. But there was nobody trying to go through security. I put my stuff in a bin and pushed it through the screening.

I could not figure out how to pass through any metal detector. I asked some guy working there. A lady came and opened up one metal detector. I waited a long time for Little Kat on the other side. He told me I was wilding, because I skipped the ID check in, and also crossed over to TSA touchless check in.

When I tried to board the plane, the attendant said because they changed the type of place we were on, my seat changed. Oh no. I checked in 24 hours earlier to ensure I got a good seat. I was demoted. The attendant must have sensed my pain. He seemed to then give me a seat upgrade.

I went down the plane and found my seat. Some girl was sitting in the aisle seat. I told her my seat was beyond her by the window. She changed seats to the window seat. I told her that her seat was the aisle. She said it was ok. I was not going to argue, as I had a seat upgrade.

This plane was a lot larger than the tiny thing we flew in on. I had tons of leg rooms. Even side to side it felt spacious, even though there was just a skinny young girl next to me. I got a whole can of Dr. Pepper. I did go to the back to use the bathroom. I don't think the ceiling height was more than 6 foot.

Bad Weather Ahead

Momoko called me. She said there was bad weather coming to her dad's house last night. She advised me to find a flashlight and the storm shelter. I was too tired. She called Little Kat to do the same. I heard the rain come heavy outside.

Little Kat exclaimed that the water stopped working in the bathroom. We had large bottles of water to flush the toilet. The electricity kept flickering. The internet went out for a while. I just used my personal hotspot from my phone. I waited the storm out. Eventually, the water returned to the home.

I had planned to go out for a midnight snack. Little Kat was not interested. I looked online. Taco Bell stayed open until 3am. I found some cheap items on their menu. At the drive through, the guy kept asking me about my mobile order. I did not place one. I ended up getting a mini taco salad, a bean burrito, and cinnamon twists.