I stopped by our local Goodwill store the other day. It’s strange. In elementary and junior high school, if you wanted to taunt somebody you would tell them that their mom has to shop at Goodwill. Then sometime in the late 1990’s it became cool to shop at Goodwill. There was always bragging rights whenever someone found a great bargin at Goodwill with hip clothing which was “almost new.”
So I browsed around the store. There’s always those t-shirts which someone got at their work/school/church function which was only really meaningful to that person. And yet, it must have not been that meaningful since the shirt was given up.
I’ve noticed that each of these t-shirts have a story behind them…and unanswered questions. The Dell Spherion shirt? Was it received at some company function celebrating a milestone? Did the little league shirt get many grass stains on it due to heavy play? I managed to snag a “Crieve Hall Church of Christ Bible Bowl 1999” shirt, a novelty within itself. I wonder if the former owner of the shirt answered many (or any) questions at the Bible Bowl.

“Live Strong.” Its on those yellow bracelets you see everyone wearing these days. I am not hip on the latest fads and fashions. I am not wearing my jeans baggy, nor do I have an IPod. So “Living Strong” wasn’t something that I immediately knew about. In fact its becoming somewhat of an annoyance, somewhat like those yellow ribbon magnets you see on everyone’s cars these days.
At some point this yellow bracelet fad will fade. Since Lance is expected to retire you probably won’t be hearing from him much. So I’d expect most of these bracelets will end up in everyone’s chest of drawers right next to the “WWJD” bracelets from the 90’s.

In college I took a personality test which told me I was an ISFJ personality. ISFJ stands for Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judgement.
Here’s some characteristics of ISFJ’s which I feel I exhibit:

• Characterized above all by their desire to serve others, their “need to be needed,” and to minister to individual needs
• Have a few, close friends. They are extremely loyal to these, and are ready to provide emotional and practical support at a moment’s notice. However, they hate confrontation; if you get into a fight, don’t expect them to jump in after you. You can count on them, however, to run and get the nearest authority figure.) The older the friendship is, the more an ISFJ will value it.
• Are super-dependable and seldom are happy working in situations where rules are constantly changing.
• Much satisfaction comes to them when they are taking care of the needs of another and they render the service gently and helpfully.
• Are methodical and accurate workers, often with very good memories and unexpected analytic abilities; they are also good with people in small-group or one-on-one situations because of their patient and genuinely sympathetic approach to dealing with others.

I do believe Ebay stuff is being resold on a continuous basis. Example. A month ago I got a Trivial Pursuit game on Ebay. After purchasing it I found that the questions were just way too hard, so I put them back up on Ebay. And within 2 days I had sold it again having only lost a couple of dollars. Call it rent-a-game.
Now I’ve got this camera which I bought on Ebay. The auction description said the On/Off button occasionally stuck. But I didn’t expect it to stick that much. 90% of the time it will not turn on. So here I am with a inferior camera. Do I dare to complain to the seller? Do I try to sell it back on Ebay and risk negative feedback if someone has the same problems I’m having? I don’t know. I’m going to face it. I was burned on Ebay and will probably be burned again.
So I’m thinking Ebay is just a bunch of stuff being resold over and over again. Or maybe its just a bunch of people going to garage sales and reselling the junk on Ebay. I can’t tell at this point. Who really makes money on Ebay? Beanie Baby sellers? Fooling people into believing that they HAVE to have the bean stuffed animal. The Emperor really has no clothes.

I haven’t really figured out if this scrapbooking phenomenon is legit or not. I mean my sister spends tons of money on the stuff. And the amount of pictures you get in it just isn’t worth the trouble. I remember my sister showed me her first scrapbooking album. Christmas 1998 or something. She got 10 whole pictures in there. Whew.
Backgrounds? Special pinking shears? Sometimes I think this is some kind of fad the scrapbooking people thought up to make ladies *think* they need to buy this junk. There are entire brick and mortar stores dedicated to this. And I’m pretty sure these stores are just remodeled stores that formerly sold Beanie Babies in the late ’90s. You know those type of stores. Kinda like those hospital gift shops that charge you an arm and a leg for a “Get Well” balloon because you were too forgetful to get a gift for your sick friend or relative.
I’ll admit that I’ve been one to put photos in photo albums. But it all stops after that. No colorful backgrounds and junk. Just photos. And for the most part this all stopped when I got a digital camera. None after that.
So maybe this scrapbooking thing will die out in a few years and we’ll be laughing about it when VH1 does “I Love the ’00s.” Much like Pet Rocks and Pac Man.

“My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”
–Gerald Ford, August 9, 1974

Yeah. I have a job. Start Monday. And it isn’t one of those McJobs at McDonald’s. We’re talking a real job. Booyah!

So here I am watching Green Bay vs. Philadelphia on Monday Night Football. I never understood Green Bay. Green Bay Packers: Wisconsin’s only NFL football team. Green Bay isn’t even a metropolis of Wisconsin. Milwaukee deserves one more than Green Bay. But then again, Milwaukee is so close to Chicago, they really should be rooting for the Bears anyways.
I don’t understand their choice of stadiums. I can remember watching those cold commericals in the 80s touting relief for colds caused by Green Bay Packer home games. Domeless stadium. Chill of the Wisconsin winter. People, build a domed stadium like everyone else in extreme weather areas.
I’m all for getting away from the oversaturation of NFL football in metropolitian areas. NYC has 2 teams (Giants and Jets). So does San Francisco/Oakland (49ers and Raiders). Do they really need 2 teams in their metro areas, while other states like Alabama and Nevada don’t have a NFL football team? Does it really come down to money, rather than being geographically fair? Alabama could support a football team. And I’m sure Las Vegas could to. Why not spread the NFL excitement around?

So I’ve gotten into this Ebay/Half.com selling thing. I’m selling mostly books and a handful of CDs. It’s cool. I don’t expect to have sellers beating down my door wanting my Crash Test Dummies CD. But I suspect I’ll make a few sales.
What I am selling:
* College textbooks – Many of them I barely used. You’d be surprised how much you can get for a 10 year old political science book.
* CDs which I never listen to. And I don’t know why I bought them. Got caught up in the popularity of the band I guess.
* My mom’s novels – And she did give me permission.
What I’m not selling:
* My elementary school books – These books have far too much sentimental value to them. Plus I still remember reading some of the stories.
* Religious books – Another set of books which might be hard to find years later if I were to get rid of them. More sentimental value.
* Anything that has a large number of items selling for 75 cents. – 75 cents just isn’t worth my time and trouble.

I really shouldn’t start ebaying. I don’t have money to spend on useless garage sale items. Still the cheap price of the trivial pursuit game got me interested. Friends have been playing that game fairly often. I like it mainly because I’m sorta good at it. Useless knowledge is my superpower.
The theme to Trivial Pursuit is similar to the Jeffersons: Getting a piece of the pie. Except fish don’t fry in the kitchen and beans don’t burn on the game board.
It must be some kind of conspiracy with Parker Brothers and Trivial Pursuit or whoever makes it. Thinking that you need more questions because the genius edition is too hard…or the young players edition is too easy….or there’s not enough questions for the baby boomers. And I still don’t know why the 80s edition on ebay is selling so high right now.

“I don’t care.” Those words are said most often these days. I remember earlier this week I mentioned in an email to a friend that I’d probably go work retail when my unemployment runs out in October. I ended the email with “I don’t care.” Mostly to show my frustration and hopelessness in the job situation.
Those 3 words prompted my friend to email me back almost immediately and then later on get online and ask me what’s up via instant messenger. He thought it was going to be one of those ABC Afterschool Specials. Don’t worry. I told him that I was just in a bad mood when I wrote the email and was just venting.
I remember being in 5th grade and the phrase “I don’t care” had become quite popular in class. We always had a ton of homework. That phrase expressed our frustration back then too. Pretty soon our teaching chastised us for using the phrase. I remember her saying “Don’t use that phrase,” and told us to change our attitude.
I also remember those 3 words being used in a recent movie: “The River Wild.” In the movie, 2 bank robbers kidnap a family and force them to take them down a whitewater river. The part of the movie which seems to echo in my own mind is when one of the kidnappers is talking to Roarke, the young son. The kidnapper was still trying to be friends with Roarke. He said he didn’t want to be mean to him and that he was just doing following orders from the other kidnapper. (This after attempting to kill his dog and threatening his family) Roarke looked straight at the kidnapper and with a cold dark stare said “I don’t care.”
I think we’ve all had that happen before. Someone egregiously wrongs you, then the next day that person turns around and acts like nothing is wrong.
I still care. It’s just sometimes I get down and discouraged like anyone else. With this endless year of job searching and getting nowhere, I might have helped change some lives. There is a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment there. You see, if I’m not making a difference, then I might as well pack up and go home. It’s not ego driven. It’s more of self-worth. Accomplishments, ya know?