Playing Cards at the Thrift Store

 I took a personal day from work last week. I dropped Char off at UHS at 7:50, and then picked her up at 3:15. I went thrifting in between. 

    One of my goals for the day was to look for another CRT TV. I have the Emerson, but that has a 9" screen. It's mostly for display. I needed something slightly bigger if I was actually going to watch movies or play games on it. I didn't have high hopes of seeing anything, though. CRTs have become a popular collectable. 

    So, I was surprised to spot a CRT TV/ DVD combo at the Many Hands thrift store in West Des Moines. The Toshiba TV was under a bunch of stuff in a full shopping cart. My first thought was, Man, someone beat me to it! and I consoled myself that sometimes that is just the way it goes. I started walking away, but then a store volunteer began pushing the cart towards the electronics section. Wait! It isn't sold. It hasn't been even put on a shelf yet! 

    As the woman pulled a small flatscreen television from the top of the cart's pile, I asked, "Could I look at this one?"

    "Sure!" she replied when she turned around. "I just sent my friend a video of it working on the test bench in the back. She got a real kick out of it. If you want, we can take this to the back again, and you can test it for yourself."

        I agreed. She was really helpful, and she was right. The 13" TV was spotless, and it played her test DVD without a hiccup. Sold! I thanked her and carried the television to the register's counter. 

    

    The TV wasn't a steal at $70, but when compared to the CRT prices on Marketplace and Craigslist, the amount was pretty fair. Plus, the TV still had its original remote. That's pretty important if the any of the physical buttons on the TV fail. Also, the money goes to charity. So, I got that in my karma bank.

    I was happy that they had wrapped the remote in a plastic bag before taping it to the top of the television. Sometimes that packing tape is directly applied to the remote and you can damage the buttons when you remove it.

    Speaking of wrapping, a woman already at the counter was buying what looked to be a stack of 25 small photo frames. The cashier was chatting with her as she slowly wrapped each frame in it's own piece of brown paper. I could tell I was going to be standing there for awhile. 

    That's when another guy spotted the TV I was buying. 

    His eyes widened, and he tapped his wife's arm with the back of his hand. He nodded to her at my TV and walked over to where I was standing. 

    He leaned in to get a better look at the TV and then slowly said in a slightly southern accent, "My son lives in Nebraska and they don't have jack in the thrift stores over there." He then looked me in the eye as if he had made a point. 

    I nodded noncommittally. Sometimes people in thrift stores will start a conversation about what you are buying because they have a fun story to share. I could tell this wasn't going to be one of those situations.

    "Well, my son called me last week and told me I should be on the look out for an old tube TV just like this one." He pointed at the TV as he played his dad-card. 

    "Yeah. Lots of people are looking for these now," I replied, not taking the bait.

    He paused for a few seconds as he considered what to say next. Then he shot back, "Well, my son wants one for playing his old video games." His mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed. I imagine it was the same face he made when he was a playground bully.

    "Sounds fun." I turned to check the cashier's progress with wrapping the picture frames. I was glad to see she was almost done.

    Undeterred, he continued throwing down his dad-cards, "My son says these TVs are called CRTs, whatever that means, and my son says classic video games look best on CRTs just like this one." His voice was tightening up like his face. 

    "I suppose that's right," I said. 

    He stood silent for the next 30 seconds trying to figure out how I could be so dumb. I turned and watched the customer ahead of me hand her money to the cashier. He saw this too, and quickly changed tactics while he thought he still had time to trick this rube into giving up that TV. 

    He put his finger on the price tag and asked incredulously, "They want that much for this?... What do they think they think this is?... You're not actually gonna pay that are you?" It was quite an act. He was even waving his hands around for emphasis. I'm sure he was willing to pay that price, but I didn't point that out. 

    Instead, I nodded. "Actually, it is a decent price. These are collectable and getting more and more expensive." I patted the top of the TV with my hand. "And nice ones like this are really hard to find." It felt good to throw a little dig at him there at the end.

    It was finally was my turn at the register after 30 more seconds of his silence and staring. I slid the TV down the counter and turned it towards the cashier. She scanned the price tag and told me I could tap my card whenever I was ready. I tried tapping my card, but there was a card read error, and my card was denied. 

    Of course that guy was still standing there. He was watching me trying to pay, and he chortled at my card's error. I inserted my card instead of tapping, and that worked. The card reader beeped in triumph, and only then did he turn and sulk away. I think his last hope was that I didn't have enough money and he could still swoop in and snag the Toshiba from me. 

    Sheesh. I've been thrifting my entire life, and people can still surprise me.

    I told this story to Charlotte on our drive home from school. She said, "The next time some jerk tries to play their dad-card on you, you can play the daughter-card. Just say, 'Well, this is for my daughter, and she likes vintage video games, too.' I don't even care if you're lying about me. You have my permission to play that card." 

    Good to know.

    It's time to party like it's 2002:

    It looks better in person. I promise. 

Cinco De Mayo 2026: Group Photo

    Happy Cinco De Mayo! Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    In 2015's Killer Piñata, "A possessed piñata, seeking to avenge the savagery that humanity has inflicted on his kind, picks off a group of friends, one by one, in an unending night of terror." IMDB

    IMDB also says the entire movie was filmed in 8 days. 

    1995's Mexican Moon by Concrete Blonde is my musical pick for today. According to Wikipedia, "On the closing track, "Bajo la Lune Mexicana," Johnette Napolitano (lead singer who does not speak Spanish) wrote the Spanish lyrics, which are a literal translation of the lyrics to the album's title track. However, none of the verbs are conjugated, noun gender is ignored, and correct grammar is non-existent; [still,] it doesn't detract from the overall translation from Spanish to English." 

    Make of that what you will.

    In 2013's Cinco De Mayo, "After being unjustly fired, harassed by his students and labeled a potential menace to society, El Maestro sets out to teach everyone one final lesson." IMDB 

    Ummm, the "final lesson" is that El Maestro kills a bunch of them. Sorry if that's a spoiler. 

Halfway to Halloween 2026: Group Photo

"Six more months 'til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Six more months 'til Halloween. 

Silver Shamrock."

    We're already halfway there! Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    I'm going with a camping theme since summer is almost here. I've already did a Friday the 13th shelf (with more to come), so here are two other summer camp movies. 

    1983's Sleepaway Camp is a bit of a Friday the 13th knockoff, but the movie is famous for the twist ending. Back in the day, the shocking denouement could have given the ending to Psycho a run for its money. I bought this used Blu-ray online and apparently Travis took this to a horror convention and had it signed by actress Felissa Rose. It reads, "To Travis - Meet me at the waterfront after the social."

    1981's The Burning can brag that it launched the acting careers of Holly Hunter, Jason Alexander, and current documentary director Fisher Sevens. This film is mostly remembered for Tom Savini's gory special effects. Apparently the film had to be heavily edited just to get an R rating. The uncut version wasn't released until 2007.

     1963's Camp Favorites by The Campers is exactly what you think it is except it features an uncredited Phil Ochs. Since the LP is on the horror shelf, I'll choose the track "Cannibal King." That song ends with, "Match in the gas tank. Boom, boom."

Did I Just Buy a Hipster Bike?

     Yep. I think so.

    A couple of weekends ago I received this text from my wife.

    Daphne was volunteering at UHS's annual Show Choir Garage Sale. Apparently quite a few people had made comments about the bike, but no one was buying. Daph knew who to call.

    I took one look at the bike and one look at the price tag. Then I wheeled it to the checkout where Daphne was working. She asked, "Are you buying the bike?"

    "I'm not sure. I just heard that there's a really good looking woman working at the register, so I thought I'd come over and check her out," I replied.

    She smiled and laughed, "That's not true! Now give me your card so you can donate to our sale."

    I did as I was told. 

    She then walked with me through the school, holding doors open, while the bike tick, tick, tick, ticked along the way.

    

   This was in our driveway twenty minutes later.

        This was a 1992 Trek 2300 road bike in its first life. 

    This is a screen shot of Trek's 1992 catalog. The frame, crankset, and derailleurs (maybe?) are the only original parts left on the bike I bought. 

    The Brooks B67 saddle is the reason I bought the Trek. This seat and the handgrips will be right at home on the Rollfast, my English 3-speed. The rest of the bike is just gravy.

    Fifty dollars won't get you even halfway to a used Brooks B67 on eBay, so this is a good deal. 

    This is what urban bicycle fashion looked like 20 years ago. Here's a 4-minute video from back in the day that shows a process that a lot of people followed -----> Link

    The trend was to take an old road bike and simplify/modify it as much as possible. Typical hipster bike requirements included a leather saddle, flipped handlebars, rims with less spokes, tires with sidewall color, and a bike rack. This bike ticks all those boxes. 

    

    If you really wanted to get into the weeds you'd repaint the frame, fork, and rims a monochrome color. You could also replace the multiple gears with a fixed gear and remove all of the brake components. Then you would have a "Fixie" that was inspired by the bikes used by bicycle delivery people in New York City. I'm glad the previous owner did not go that far.

    I'm not here to mock the hipsters. They were just having fun with their bikes. Can't knock them for that. But I can try to knock some of the 2006 off of here.

  I made some quick changes before I took the bike for a test ride. I flipped the Metropolis handlebars, and added soft grips. Those old-school Weinmann brake levers were also really popular with the hipster crowd.

      Then I made a seat swap, removed the rack and bag, and changed the bottle cage. 

    Hey, that doesn't look too bad.

    The bike wasn't shifting very well, and the chain was noisy. Turns out the chain was just too long. I removed a couple of links and those problems were solved. 

    The front brake was fine, but the rear caliper would only pull from one side. It took me about an hour to figure out it was stripped and missing a spacer. This must have been a problem for awhile because the right brake pad was worn out and the other pad looked brand new.

    

       I bought a pair of period correct brake calipers on eBay. The bike now stops as it should. I also like this look better.

    Hipster bikes were all about high seat posts and low handlebars. Riding in this position gave the biker an illusion of speed, but was pretty uncomfortable. I brought the stem adapter up a bit and added some headset spacers.

    Parts bin saddle. I don't remember where I found this seat, but I'm 100% sure it was in a thrift store. I like the logo's design.

    I had an authentic Trek water bottle cage in the parts bin, so that went on as well.

        The last step was to replace the tires on those Vuelta (hand built) wheels. I wasn't a fan of the red sidewall stripe, and the rubber on the tires was beginning to crack. The tires are sized 700 x 23c. I decided to bump that up a bit to 700 x 28c. There's plenty of room. I went with all-black tires from Amazon.

    When she saw them Daphne said, "Yeah, that looks better than the red." That's all I needed to hear.

    Before and after pics.

    It's gone from a hipster to a commuter in ten days. What a fun project. The plan is to test drive it some more and take it to Marketplace. 

   All of my other bikes are made of steel, so this composite frame seems just so dang light. I'm tempted to keep the Trek, but that just means something else has to go. 

    Thanks to Daphne, my fine line between collecting and hoarding has been crossed.

Blink and You'll Miss It - part 16

    Easter 2011 (nine months old)

Easter 2012

Easter 2013

Easter 2014 (Just a little grumpy about going to church.)

Easter 2015 (Pretty happy about going to church.)

Easter 2016

Easter 2017 (It's irresponsible to take a child with a fever to church, but she can still hunt Easter eggs at home.)

Easter 2018 (Hmmmm. That dress looks familiar.)

Easter 2019

Easter 2020 (You don't have to dress up for online church.)

Easter 2021 (Officially too old for the children's sermon.) 

Easter 2022 (New glasses and experimenting with hair color.)

Easter 2023 (Wearing the dress she picked out on our trip to Portland.)

Easter 2024 (Out shopping after church.)

Easter 2025

Easter 2026 (hanging out after church... without braces)

Insert the "time flies" cliché here.

Actually, it isn't a cliché; it's a law.

April Fools' Day 2026: Group Photo

    Happy April Fools' Day! Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    I just realized that April Fool's Day, released in late March of 1986, is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The film is a horror-comedy, but it was marketed as a straight up slasher, and horror fans didn't like the surprise ending. I think the film's title should have tipped the audience off. That, and the fact that all of the "kills" happen offscreen. 

    The Jeff Rovin's novelization of the film was based on the original screenplay that ends on a darker note. Some copies of this book have movie stills on the back cover that aren't in the movie, but they match what is in the book's plot. 

    So, what's up with The Sound of Music Blu-ray and The Pacifier DVD? Those aren't horror movies. 

    I thought you'd never ask.

    Our family tradition at the theater is to give each movie trailer either a thumbs up or a thumbs down when it's over. That helps us plan what family movie we could all see next. We also did this with the trailers on the DVDs I'd bring home from the library. We watched a trailer for The Pacifier when Charlotte was in 4th grade. Char really laughed at Gary the duck and the dirty diaper jokes. Daphne did not. At the end, Char and I gave the movie trailer a thumbs up, and Daphne was decidedly at thumbs down, "That movie looks terrible," she said. I secretly gave Charlotte a wink, and she nodded at me. 

    Later, when I went into Char's bedroom to say goodnight, we hatched our plan for April Fools' Day.

    The next day I found a copy of The Pacifier at Urbandale's public library and hid it at home in my backpack. At dinner that night Charlotte casually asked her mom if she could watch any movie at home, what would she pick? Daphne responded, "Oh, I haven't seen The Sound of Music for a long time. That would be a fun one." 

    Char replied, "Okay, let's watch that tomorrow night." Char secretly winked at me while her mom was clearing the dishes. I was impressed. She had a pretty good game face for a ten-year-old. 

    That was March 31.

    I found our Blu-ray of The Sound of Music the next day after school. I loaded The Pacifier DVD into our player, clicked past the previews and the menu, and set it so the movie would begin right after the Walt Disney Productions logo. Since the Blu-ray player has place memory, I ejected The Pacifier DVD and put it in the case for The Sound of Music. I was fairly confident the movie would start right where I hit "Stop". I put The Sound of Music case on the kitchen counter, and waited for Daphne to come home. 

    Our trap was set.

    We gathered in the living room after dinner. I made a production of pulling the disc from the case, and placing it in the player while the girls were watching me. I hit "Play" on the remote, and the movie started where I had hoped it would.  Daphne knew she had been had about 30 seconds in. She yelled, "Oh nooooo! Not this movie!" when Vin Diesel appeared on the screen.

    Char and I yelled, "April Fools!" and Char laughed and laughed and laughed. I did, too. Daphne took it in stride (her yell was mostly fake) and agreed to watch the movie with us. 

    I probably wouldn't even be writing this story if that was all. But our movie-switch wasn't the only surprise. In The Pacifier, one of the teenage characters that Vin Diesel is supposed to be protecting has secretly joined an amateur production of The Sound of Music, and when the director quits, Vin takes over. At the end of the movie, we get to see the cast perform a scene from the musical. None of us saw that one coming. Turns out Char and I weren't really lying. 

    Secondly, Daphne was surprised that she enjoyed the movie as much as she did. She asked me when it was over, "Is Vin Diesel in any other movies like that? If he is, then I would watch them with you guys for sure." Unfortunately, this is his only family-friendly comedy.

    This afternoon I asked Char if she remembered pranking Mom with this movie six years ago. She nodded her head, "That's the movie where mom got to see The Sound of Music anyway."

    So, yeah, The Pacifier might not be an April Fools' Day movie at your house, but it sure is at ours.

St. Patrick's Day 2026: Group Photo

    Happy St. Patrick's Day! Let's see what's on the Holiday Horror Shelf!

    From left to right: This is the seven movie set of the Leprechaun films. 

    If you haven't seen any of these horror comedies, skip number one and jump to Leprechaun 3 or Leprechaun 4: In Space. 

   2024's indie horror film Oddity starts with a serious you-don't-know-who-is-in-the-house-with-you scare and then morphs into a fun twist on the Golem monster.

    Here's how the imdb.com describes 2012's Grabbers:

    This Irish horror comedy can be fairly compared to Tremors (Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward were great in that). I liked the redemptive storyline for one of the leading Garda characters. 

    Musically, I'm going with The Pogues' LP If I Should Fall from Grace with God because it includes "Turkish Song of the Damned." Bandleader Shane MacGowan explained its lyrics as being a mixture of pirate and ghost story '...about a guy on a Turkish island who deserted a sinking ship with all the money and all his mates went down… then his best mate comes back, and all the crew, to drag him back down to hell or wherever they are.’" - Wikipedia

        It felt pretty timely when I found this Leprechaun Returns Blu-ray at Goodwill last week. I didn't even know there was an eighth film in the series. Apparently this one ranks pretty high with the fans. Some websites put this 2018 movie at the top of their lists. I haven't watched it, yet, but it was cool to find it in time for this post.

    Great Irish Tales of Horror: A Treasury of Fear was first published in 1995 and is divided into three sections: Lurking Shadows, Wake Not the Dead, and To Make the Flesh Creep. AI says 1861's "The Child Who Loved a Grave" by Fitz-James O' Brien is the most famous story in the book, and he's known as the Celtic Poe.  I'll rate that story as "meh" since a child dies at the end.

    Don't forget to wear your green. You don't want to get pinched!

Friday the 13th 2026: Group Photo

    Happy Friday the 13th! Last month had a Friday the 13th, but I was too focused on Valentine's Day to notice. Luckily, March has one, too.

    From left to right: I picked up this two DVD set from Half Priced Books not realizing that it contained FT13th Part 2, not Part V. That's okay. Part 2 is better than Part V anyway. The real star of the show is FT13th Part VI: Jason Lives. Director Tom McLoughlin shot Part VI like an old Universal horror movie (by1986, Jason, Freddy, and Michael had basically become the new Dracula, Frankenstein, and Mummy), and he has stated that, "... if you turn the color off, this movie would look great in black-in-white." I've watched the opening in black-in-white, and I agree.

    FT13th was released for the NES system in 1988. I wouldn't call this a good game, but I think it looks good on the Horror Holiday Shelf. I just came up with that name. I like it.

    FT13th Part 3 in 3D! came out in 1982. They cranked out eight of these films in the 80s. That's almost one a year. There's gonna be diminishing results at that pace, and Part 3 shows some of that. Still, I like the scenes that are set up exclusively for a 3D effect; like when a guy holds up a red hot fire poker to the camera for no apparent reason. My friend Tim gave me this Blu-ray.

    FT13th: The Final Chapter does really end with the death of Jason (at the hands of Corey Feldman), but like this VHS tape, Jason experiences a comeback. Just call this movie Part 4. 

   Up next is Ghoulish: The Art of Gary Pullin.  From Amazon: "[Pullin is] a go-to artist for official film artwork, concert merchandise, LP packaging, and endless other pieces of pop culture ephemera, Pullin has put pencil to paper for film posters such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, The Big Lebowski, Vertigo, and The Babadook, soundtracks including Creepshow, Scream, Christine, and Tales from the Crypt, and concert merch for the likes of Jack White, Alice Cooper, and the Misfits."

    I got Ghoulish in a bundle deal on eBay. This isn't the book that I initially wanted, but currently it's the only book from that bundle that I have read. Funny how that works sometimes.

    I'll admit that I bought this can of hard cider from Angry Orchard just for the shelf. I don't even like hard cider. I'll probably punch a couple holes in the bottom and make it a Halloween decoration. 

    

    Stay safe out there!

Yeah, That's a Rob Zombie DVD

     Rob Zombie films look rough, but this Goodwill DVD of 31 is a beautiful  mess. 

    I can only guess at what happened here. The case is twisted, was sat on, and was probably thrown across the room. It has dog bite marks, spent time in shallow water, and might have been air-dried in the trunk of a get away car.

    I don't think the damage done to this DVD could be replicated in an art studio. It's too pure.

    So, even if I haven't watched this movie, this DVD is going on the display shelf. Sure, anyone can buy a new copy of 31. Who else owns this?

    It's fun when you can judge a book by its cover.