How Much Is That Worth?

Chris and I were watching Antiques Roadshow on KNCT last night. There's one thing that really bugs me about the show. The appraiser will discuss the item and its history with the owner. Then the appraiser will ask, "Do you have any idea how much it is worth?"

Well, Hello!!! Of course they don't know. Do they really think these people dragged all this stuff in just for their health. I'm still waiting for someone to say, ""Sure I do! I just want to see if you do."


I'd like to know where these people are finding all this stuff. I go out in the garage and all I see is junk. I haven't found that one item bought at the garage sale for $3.00 and is really worth $2,500. Last night there was a woman that brought in at least 5 Whistler prints (Yeah, that Whistler.) that her dad bought in the 60's and 70's for a couple of hundred dollars a piece. He passed away and she inherited them. Now they're worth nearly $200,000. A couple of people brought in Tiffany lamps. Yeah! They're worth a lot too.


In 1976 my father took some $2 bills and some checks and had then stamped and postmarked July 4, 1976 for the American Bicentennial. This was a big deal since July 4, 1976 was on a Sunday and the post offices were closed. They stayed open just to do this. My father said they would be a collectible since this only happens once. I inherited these items from my father.


I checked the other day. The $2 bills are now worth.......











Yeah! $2. I can't even cash the checks. the accounts are closed now. Oh well. I don't need any of that any way. I have a five gallon container of gas. I know it will go up in value. Maybe even next week.


© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

I've Got It Cornered, Now I Need A Market

What is it with dust? It is everywhere. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about the house being messy. Chris does an excellent job with the house.

What I'm talking about are the out of the way places that you normally don't think about. Like my desk. Like behind all the computer stuff on my desk. I was cleaning off my desk the other day and I can tell you that if there was a global market for dust, I would have surely cornered it. There was dust covering the cables, the external hard drives, the USB ports, mouse docks, cable modem, back of the monitor, and so on. Admittedly, this was not 100% Texas dust. Some of it was probably blown in from the western US, or even Mexico. There was also a good amount of hair from the cats. It seems that they have found a way to take their excess hair and place it in just such a way that it forms a nice even layer over all of my electronics.

Further inspection found the same layer covering my cpu and ups. Cleaning those kicked up a minor dust storm. The National Weather Service later issued a Dense Fog Advisory for the area. I am convinced it was from me kicking up all that dust. The printer wasn't much better.

After thorough cleaning a liberal application of Old English Lemon Oil was applied to the desk. I was certain that I heard a barely audible, "Thank you!" I'm not sure if it was Chris or the desk.

Say! If any of you need any dust mixed with a liberal dose of cat fur, let me know. As of today I am starting a new batch and expect it to be ready in a month or two. Let me know soon. I am certain that there is going to be a limited supply available which makes it very valuable. I am thinking of seeing if I can get it listed on the Futures Market. I believe that this would be considered dust for March 28 delivery. I am even thinking of joining OCD, (Organization of Computer dust Distributors).

That's strange. OCD makes me think of something else. I'm not sure what. I'm sure it doesn't apply to me though.

It seems I was in my classroom at the beginning of school. I had to change classes and I was getting it ready. I looked on top of the projector screen and saw dust. That had to go. I cleaned it. The more I looked in the room I found dust, dust, and more dust. There were also old staples in the walls and cork tack strips. I had to take them all out. I don't like staples in the cork tack strips. If I have spare time I will go in the hall and take staples out that some teachers leave behind. AAARGH!! Maybe there is an opening for me at OCD. You know what that is I'm sure; The Organization of Cork-strip De-staplers.

Bye. I see more dust and staples to take care of.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Get The Phone, It's For Me

Started to try to do things with my new phone. I was reading the instruction booklet and it mentioned some software on line that could be used with the phone. I went to the Sony Ericsson site and looked up the software under on the Support Page. There it was. The PC Suite software. I downloaded it and clicked on the .exe file. It started to install. And then......Error 1935. AARGH!!!



If it doesn't work the first time certainly the second time will work. Nope! It doesn't. Maybe the third time will be a charm. It wasn't. How about a fourth time. Better yet, how about a different plan of action. Google to the rescue. Hmmmm! Quite a list for that error message. Time to start reading and figuring this thing out.



Found one that made sense. Finally. Here it is on allaboutsymbian.com. It suggested disabling the spyware program. I did that and did a reinstall. Viola! It worked. By the way I found one that wasn't worth 2 cents; not even 1 cent. I found it on the MSDN site.



After I got the software installed and working I decided to try it out. Aaargh!!! The software works, but.......I need a special USB data cable for the phone. Of course, none of mine will work. Back to Google and the search begins again. here it is---DCU-60; Data Cable USB-60. I found them on Amazon like for real cheap. Gee! The shipping is more than the cable. I might go that route.



At least I did my lesson plans before I got started with the download. It was after 10:00 PM by the time I finally finished.



By the way, I did remember to turn on all of my security software after the install. So I shouldn't have to go down that road again.



© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Getting Better

Refer to title! I am still moving kind of slow and the post is a little late.

I feel like I have lost an entire day. As you may recall, I called in sick at work and went to sleep for like forever. The only thing I had to eat yesterday was medicine, The only thing I had to drink was water. Gee what a day.

I am feeling better today. However, if I can steal a line from Winnie the Pooh, "I'm so rumbly in my tumbly..." The only difference is I don't feel like munching and early luncheon. Hopefully tomorrow I will will be on top of the world and posting normally.

Have a great day, I know I am doing my best.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

No Post of Significance--Sick Today

I have no post of significance today. I was sick last night and got very little sleep. I suppose I got food poisoning from something I ate last night. At any rate, I called in sick and didn't go to work. I went back to bed and didn't get up until 3:30 this afternoon. I normally post around 5:00 AM. Today I am posting at 4:30 PM. Today can be summed up in a word, BLEECH!! Charles Schultz was always a master of turning the descriptive phrase.

There will be a better post tomorrow if I continue to improve. See ya then.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

It's A Blue Day But I'm Not Blue

Busy day yesterday. Chris called me at work to let me know that my new phone came in. Great! I couldn't wait to get home and check it out. I had to stay and tutor though. Got home from school after 5:00 PM. I got stuck on the bridge over I-35 and had to sit for a while. It always gets blocked around this time due to truck traffic. The truck stop has just added a maintenance facility. Also, several new truck related services and warehouses have opened recently. Needless to say the truck traffic has picked up and makes it kinda hectic at times.

The state has recently announced that they will begin the I-35 widening project from State Highway 6 down to Lorena this year. That means the highway that I travel on to go to work will be fully involved soon and will last for the next three years. Yippee! Not! They will also be replacing the bridge over the interstate. This is good because there is near total gridlock in the area at times. It will be good to have a new bridge because the current one is a two-lane bridge and carries a lot of traffic currently.

Back to my original story. I got home after 5:00 PM and looked forward to checking out my new phone. NO! I didn't get a fancy one. I got a simple Sony Ericsson. It is the z310a. I was ready to set it up and the documentation said to charge it up first. Rats! I plugged it in and then Chris told me she had some errands to run so away we went. When we got back I was ready. Not for the phone. I had to eat. By now it was 7:00. I fixed supper and ate and finally got to the phone. It was fully charged by now and ready to go.

This phone is pretty cool. It has a camera. Now I know that isn't that cool anymore. Almost all phones have them now. For me it is cool because it's my first. The best part about this phone, at least for me, is the color effects that it has. It rings with colors. Different colors. I like the blue. I like most anything blue. My keyboard has blue lights. The warning light on my truck alarm is a flashing blue light. The light on my WD Passport drive is blue. If you want to sell it to me put a blue light on it and I'll probably buy it. Chris even got me a dozen LED tea lights. Yep. They're blue lights too.

The phone? Oh yeah, the phone. I imagine I'll be spending the next several days tweaking it and getting everything just right. If I have a problem I'll let you know. Lesson plans tonight. The weather broadcast say we may have snow or sleet or some other type of wintry precipitation tonight or tomorrow morning. If so, there's a chance for a late start at school. I'll keep you posted on that too.

I got a sample of dog food in the mail today. Yep. It came from Blue Buffalo. What can I say. I just like blue. One day I'll show you a Blue Sunflower. Ignore the fact that my truck is red. I suppose I was blue and just saw red.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.