Be Careful When It's New!

Just a short note this time, as I've been amiss (again) and it's been too long. Some of you might have given up waiting for something new.

To follow up on the postcard idea, they are different from the ads as I said earlier, but I am confused at the moment as to the best way to handle them. I was listing each one as an auction, then relisting it in the store if it didn't sell. The fees ate up most of the income from the sales, even with a few items that had multiple bidders and brought a decent price at auction. Out of a couple hundred listings, my net was about $32.00. Hardly worthwhile. So, the dilemma is, auction or store? The items in the store of course can't get into a bidder's competition (I hesitate to call it a "war" as I was tempted to do), and the percentage of postcards which sell from the store is much lower than the ads, verified by eBay's market research info, so it's not just my store. I've seen some postcard sellers who recommend two auction listings per card, then bundle them into a bunch and unload that way. I have also seen many listings for groups of two to 10 or so cards on a certain subject. Maybe that way? Maybe more selection in what to list? I don't know yet.

Meanwhile, December has been a decent month. It is not over yet, but I bet the Christmas rush is. I've heard that retailers sell a lot of stuff in the Christmas shopping season, maybe even half of the year's sales, at least I think that's what I've heard. That didn't happen to me. December is on track to be a leading month, but not that different from other months. I write this down now because maybe someday it will make sense. And I write it here for the world's perusal (if it wishes) so that it might help someone else in a similar spot. Maybe the experiences will make a good ebook someday. Talk about public domain!

Enough for now. A very Merry Christmas to all.

Thank The Troops

To the right was a widget from DoD (I removed it 11/25) which supposedly gives a number to use to send a text message to a troop for Thanksgiving. It ends tomorrow, Thursday, 11/22. I finally got a text message composed (not something I've gotten into, had to get out the book (If all else fails, RTFM [ Read The … Manual] ) and the phone keeps sayiing "unable to send - try later." Maybe they are just swamped with messages? Let's hope that's it. Meanwhile, should any Troop come across this blog, Thank you!!!

I only found this today. Maybe it will get the troops one more thank you.

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone, and don't forget Who we are thanking and for what.

Trying Postcards on eBay

I've added old postcards to the ads on eBay. One fun thing is that postcard buyers are bidders. Ad buyers, as I have indicated before, watch the items (I have nearly 200 ads being watched, out of 3200) and don't bid. Buyers swoop in from nowhere and buy. The postcards at the moment have 5 bids out of about 100 cards and I'm not sure how many watchers. Earlier today there were 11 with bids. While they don't sell for as much, the bidding part makes them fun. We'll see how it works out.

I see the info about adding slide shows to the blog. I've got some pictures of the Great Smoky Mountains from our trip to Tennessee last summer that look pretty neat to me. Some of the Niagra Falls trip also came out nicely. I guess I've got to get them up to Flickr or someplace so I can get the slide show going. Looks like fun.

That's it for now. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Best Month Yet - and a Widget!!

October was the best month ever. The last ten days seemed dead, but the total wound up highest yet. Thanks to all who helped.

And now eBay has this widget deal (just out of sight below the screen - scroll down) that connects right to the store and listings (which are up to about 3133).

I haven't done much listing this week. First, I'm sort of testing the 3000 listings theory, and second, I've been researching some other things to sell, namely postcards and old public domain books.

The latter sounds like fun. Because when I first got a Palm PDA some years back, I became a real fan of ebooks. Just plain text files that can be read by Palm Reader after some manipulation by another piece of software. I found a CD on eBay with a mess of old classics which I had never read, but always thought I should have read. I could put them on the PDA and read whenever I had time, like on the train or waiting for the train. The files had come from the public domain, and had a couple references to Project Gutenberg in them, but they were terrific.

Now I have a Palm Tungsten E2 which holds much, much more than my first one, a Zire. In fact, the Zire was so limited that I had to break the Bible down into individual books and trade them off as I read one. When the Tungsten E came out, the size was the real attraction. With it, I could have several versions of the Bible, a concordance, a commentary, and more ebooks than I could read in a month of Sundays. Then the E2 came along, with a respectable battery life. Besides ebooks, it plays mp3 files and shows videos. Wow.

Anyway, I really loved that ebook CD and think it might be both fun and rewarding financially to put together collections which might appeal to someone else. We'll see.

I did win a couple postcard auctions, so when they arrive, I will start keeping notes on that end of the business. Postcard appear to generate more bidding than ads, hence better prices? We'll see. Oh, one interesting thing from October's ads was a big increase in buyers who bought multiple ads. I don't have a good way to identify returning buyers except by eyeball, which is pretty unreliable. There have been some, and probably more that I didn't recognize. It's a good sign for business, plus I'd like to be able to let them know that I know - just need something to tell ME that I KNOW.

We are getting there. Go ahead and try out that eBay widget and let me know what you think.

Have a great Friday.

Made It!!

What happened to October 1st's post? Must be I was just having so much fun that it flashed right by without my noticing. Sorry - I know how disappointed that must have made the fans. Probably no fans left now.

Too bad for them. The listings have MADE IT to 3077, over the hopefully magic number of 3000. I was trying to remember where 3000 had come from. Something to do with my calculations of how many sales were needed to "pay the rent." I don't remember the specifics now. Maybe they are in the archives somewhere, for someday when I write a book about all this.

The figures for September were a few less than August, BUT August has 31 days vs. September's 30, and on August 31, 10 (ten) ads were sold. Ten in one day. Now that would pay the rent if it happened every day. But the point is that September was second in overall sales and first on a 30 day basis. October is ahead of September on a cumulative basis so far. So we do seem to be on the right track.

Some of the "make money on the internet" things I have read seem to be just selling the same things around to a similar circle of dumbies who bought something once from a similar huckster. What I am really enjoying about the ads are the emails I get from customers saying why they wanted that ad or what they are going to do with it. Some of that would make an interesting book some day.

Meanwhile, I've got a long ton of magazines needed attention. And I should add, my "Watch For" list (of requests from ad seekers) is growing. It would be nice to be able to check off a couple of those.

Have a good Monday.

Closing In

With listing now up to 2869, the magic number of 3000 is visible at the end of the tunnel. Should be there in a couple days from now. And what will we find then? That the theory is good or that it is wrong?

Just as August turned out to be a surprise and set a new record, September has been the opposite, sort of. Started out great, then slowed down to a crawl, but should at least be a second best if it doesn't set a new record. Not really too bad, I guess.

I'm looking at a bunch of other money making ideas, but they all seem to be selling shovels to the 49ers. Not what I want to do. I want to sell something of real value to the buyer. Save 'em a trip ashore, as the Hot Dogs and Bait idea started with.

Next Monday will be October 1. Just in time for a September summary and maybe something else of note.

Have a great Monday.

Back to the scanner.

The Theory is Proving True

Well, after my somewhat negative post last time (ok, it was three weeks ago, I admit), everything wound up where it had seemed headed before my tirade. That is, August wound up being the best month ever, beating July by 32%! And September is at least holding its own with August. Listings are at 2750, so we're not even up to the 3000 number, which was forecast to be the level needed to provide a decent income.

Not everyday is a record for sales. Some days are zeros in the sales department. I have to learn to hang on through those days without getting discouraged. Should be able to observe the pattern by now.

The trick now would seem to be improving the listing process. Three weeks ago it was approaching 2600 I said, so that means a net increase of 150 since then, or about 50 a week, or about 7 a day. Not enough. Fifty in a day, from harvest to listing, is a decent day's work. That would produce 350 a week (7 x 50). On the other hand, there is more to life than listing old ads on eBay - or so I hope.

In the last few weeks, I have spent time researching some other things to sell. Can't research and list at the same time. That means, perhaps, that I should get some discipline into my schedule and set aside a certain amount of time each day for certain tasks and stick to it. Something to consider. The negative is that it doesn't fit my idea of retired living. But, maybe my idea is wrong? That would not be a first.

OK, back to the scanner.

Have a great day.

Where Did the Bottom Go?

Wow! August started out as if it was going to break all records, then, this past week, it seemed as if it died. I just did some recordkeeping and it is not as bad as it seemed. It hasn't died, it is just catching its breath. It is the third best month, with still a quarter of the month to go. That must say something about illusion compared to reality.

The listing count is approaching 2600—it should go over that today. Last weekend was nicely busy with family events, so not much was added to the listings. My brother had his annual picnic on Saturday. He sets up a big (as in BIG) tent out back at his farm and invites the family and his friends and work associates. I got to visit with lots of the family and friends. Two of my granddaughters were thrilled with the farm animals. The pigs made a hit, as well as one goat. Oh, and the box full of day old kittens was the big favorite. One granddaughter didn't like cats when she first found the box, but after a little while, she at least liked kittens. Then Sunday, we went to a Yankees game that my second son put together for his brother-in-law who was here from London. It was a really fun day.

Got to go help the bride. Have a great day.

Stick to What You Know

The title is reflective of my diversion into things other than ads (of which more in a minute).

One pair of ship bookends sold, which is a plus, but the price just barely covered the expenses. I got a replacement for the horse bookends, but no action yet. The other pair of ship bookends has to be listed yet. With a higher price.

Some other things I ordered arrived Saturday. They reminded me of when I was a kid and "Made in Japan" was an joke - just after WWII, when Japan was trying to get back on its feet and was making lots of things at apparently good prices, but it was real junk. Maybe now that label and joke status is going to belong to China, which is where these items came from. With the news of poison dog food, and I've lost track of what else, it is probably China's turn for some quality control. Japan sure did it - look at where they are now.

As for the ads, there were multiple bids almost every day this past week, up to 8 on a couple days. Farm tractors and boats seemed to be the main subjects. The count of listings is up to 2335 this morning. Lots more to come.

My wife fell at work last week, breaking and dislocating her shoulder. That took some time away from the eBay project, but we still made some progress. A youngster who was helping me in the Crafts area at Vacation Bible School last week also broke his shoulder. Makes me want to stay in my chair. I was helping at VBS because the usual crafts guy was having surgery for prostate cancer. He is doing fine - better than the broken shoulder folks, at least as of yesterday.

Everytime I look at my desktop and/or my screen saver, I think I've got to find that photography information I've been promising. At least you know it is still on my mind.

My youngest son went to the NASCAR race in the Poconos yesterday with his girl friend and her father. I started watching on TV and got rather hooked. Maybe NASCAR stuff would sell on eBay? Hmmmnn.

Off to the scanner. Happy Monday.

Starting to Get Exciting

I think it is starting to get exciting. Postings are at 2183 or so and there are some neat changes in statistics. Yesterday, there were bids on 4 ads at once, and the watch list was up to 93. While there is practically no correlation between watchers and sales, the number of watchers is indicative of whether the ads are being found and looked at. And bids haven't been a big part of the operation. They are usually buy it nows or offers. The offers are kind of fun. I'll pass along a story about offers in the future.

The other exciting part is in the traffic reports for the eBay pages. So far, July has passed June, and there is still a week to go. All categories are nicely up over June, and each month has been better than its predecessor.

I spent some time researching some other things to sell. Bought some bookends, and the horse heads pair arrived damaged, leaving just the sailing ship ones to sell. Nothing yet.

I haven't forgotten the promise about the photography site (where you can get paid if someone downloads your shot - not much, but better than nothing). I've been enjoying my pictures of the Great Smoky Mountains and Niagara Falls, so I'm thinking I should take my own advice and get them posted. Will report back on how it works when I do it By the end of this week, promise.

OK, back to the scanner.

Happy Tuesday.

Onwards & Upwards

Two weeks again. I'm in a deep rut. I thought it was one week. Sorry, all you avid fans.

The number of postings just crossed the 1900 mark. Another thousand to go to prove or disprove the number 3000 as sufficient. June was not as good a month for sales as May, in spite of a larger number of listings. Meaningful or fluke?

We got up to near Buffalo as planned last week. We were only gone two days, but it needed a recovery day (Saturday) and yesterday was Sunday, which became a recovery day from carrying the magazines down into my basement on Saturday, so not too many listings were added since Thursday. The lot of magazines was just as promised, maybe more. I have to inventory it yet, but I'm guessing it was close to 300 magazines. Real number to follow. I am going to keep those listings together so I can compare the income with the cost.

Niagara Falls is really special. If you haven't been there, it's worth adjusting something to do it. I had remembered it was very powerful, my wife not so. She was very moved this time by both the power of the water and the beauty of everything. I have to say that I decided I like our American side better, with nature up front and the commercial stuff kept back from the water's edge. We kept getting lost trying to get to our motel - my fault, not theirs. At one point Thursday night, I thought we were going over a bridge which would bring us down in Canada and that, since my wife didn't have a gov't-issued photo ID, we might be there forever. Not too worry - we were apparently brought down on Grand Island, still part of New York and the good ole US of A, so no problem getting back since we never left.

Rather than stay a night at my brother's lake place, we went to the Corning Glass Museum and then came on home by way of the farm I used to have near Cortland. The farm was very neglected, the old barn had completely collapsed - it was only half of its original self when we bought it and an old dirt road at the edge of the farm had been paved and had several new residents. Overall, it was depressing. The kids were right - it is better in NJ.

And that means that I had better get back to scanning so I can get the boat fixed and out on the river. Summer is moving along and it will be time to pull everything before you know it. The wife liked the Finger Lakes. Maybe someday we can take the boat along the Erie Canal and down into Cayuga Lake by whatever that canal is that connects them. Gotta get the boat working right first.

Happy Monday.

eBay Ad Sales On Course

The eBay ad sales project is on course in many ways. At least it is moving forward. Listings are up to 1628, which is about 200 more than last posting here and closer to the hopefully magic number of 3000. There have been sales, but I don't have the figure right at hand.

I've begun using Garage Sale as my listing software. It is a Mac OSX program. Like so many good programs, it is not entirely intuitive, but it does do many things well and has some helpful features. One is an easy way to keep track of my listing productivity, something I had said a while back that I should do. Garage Sale does it for me. Neat. I am sure that it has a lot of features that I haven't tried yet, which leaves room for development.

Navy Fliers Listen Up.
I had an ad customer in Australia who wrote to me that they had a web site going with biographical information on US Navy fliers from WWII. He said that they did not have much on Navy groups from the US East Coast, so I am herewith supplying the link to his web page:

http://www.vsnavy.org

It doesn't seem to be working at the moment. It was ok when I first got it. The World War II vets are leaving us so fast these days. Go to Jack's site above and leave a footprint in the sand of time - or whatever you fliers leave. And yes, I do know what "VS" means - but I had to ask.

Next week we have to make a trip to near Buffalo, NY to pick up a magazine collection I won on eBay—too large to be shipped, he said, at least without going into the poor house. My wife used to go to Buffalo to visit relatives when she was a kid, so it will be one of those memory lane trips for her. Looking forward to it. We will probably stay at my brother's cabin at his lake near Elmira on the way home (better ask him before he sees it here first).

The photography link for selling amateur photos will follow soon.

eBay Ad Sales and Vacation

Two weeks again. I think I see a pattern forming.

Last week, my wife took a week off from her hospital registration job and we went to Tennessee for a reunion with her two brothers and their families. One brother had found a place called Hidden Mountain Resort which rents cabins of various sizes in a wooded, mountain setting. He found a cabin with enough room for all of us—I think there were four real bedrooms plus pull-out couches all over its three floors. It is in (or near) Sevierville, TN, near Pigeon Forge and the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The cabin had everything you'd need except food. We had three fun days and got to see some of the area—the Park, caverns, lakes, shopping, go-karts. The road from I40 to Gatlinburg (I think it is US 411) is one long strip of tourist traps, some of which are really pretty neat. Bennett's Ribs is fantastic. I think we've found our next home, after the wife retires. But then yesterday, we went to the beach here (Sandy Hook) for her last vacation day. I think I would have a tough time giving up the beach and the water. Saw people in bathing suits going down to a stream in TN. I said, Wow, that's their beach! Have to think about it.

EBay listings are up to 1405 - that's only about a hundred more than last entry here. Fifty ad listings is a good day's work, but that should give about 350 a week, not 50. Of course, there are sales, but not THAT many. Only about 12 for the week. The numbers keep moving in the right direction, but it's taking a lot longer to get somewhere than I thought.

Back to the scanner.

Happy Tuesday.

May Be On The Right Path

Sorry, it's been two weeks again since last post.

Postings are now up to 1311 (as of this moment). Seems like it should be more than that at 30 – 35 new listings a day. I'll have to start logging my productivity. Last Monday, I took 6 ads to the PO. Today, I will take 10 in 9 packages, altho it was a 3 day weekend. Everything still shows progress.

Had a great weekend. Spent Saturday and Sunday with some family and friends at my brother's lake in New York State. Nicely remote. 90 acres of woods with a 20 acre lake in the middle and a cabin with running hot water, electricity, all the comforts of home. It is always nice to get away even for a little bit. Talked a lot about the internet and its potential. My brother is going to get his publishing business going one of these days.

Back to scanning.

Happy Tuesday.

Thoughts on Volume of Listings

Since I was here last, I've been scanning away and got the listings up to just over 1100. I think I got to 1102 at one point and felt like I had reached a goal. Then, wouldn't you know it, people bought some, so my count went down below 1100. Believe, me, I am not complaining.

It reminded me of a time way back when we took our three kids to a fish farm in upstate New York. Somebody's Eddy - Pond Eddy, maybe? I suppose I could look it up, but the scanner is cooling off. Anyway, it was a place where they stocked the pools and streams with trout and you paid for what you caught. The kids were maybe 4 to 7 and hadn't been fishing before. I got the corn on the oldest son's hook, then on the daughter's, then on the youngest son's, and before I could bait my own hook, the oldest was back with a fish and needing more bait. Got him off again and here came the daughter, with the youngest son in line behind her. It was half an hour before I managed to get my own hook in the water. I think maybe they learned how to do part of it by then—sure didn't have to wait long for a fish. And I don't even like them, but we went home with about $18 worth, which I did help eat—we weren't rich enough to waste them. The point is that while it was fun helping the kids fish, I wanted to fish myself and couldn't get there because of helping them.

Listing the ads reminded me of that. I just hope the ad buyers are as hungry as those trout were.

I've learned another interesting fact: watchers have nothing to do with buyers. Out of about 100 ads sold, about 7 or 8 had watchers. It is fun to see items being watched—at least you know that the listings are being found and considered. At this very moment, there are about 54 listings being watched out of 1120 or so. One even has three watchers. It was about the same yesterday, and there were 6 sales. Nothing today so far (2 PM).

The clerk at the Post Office told me this morning that I must be doing pretty well since I'm there every day. I want to think that the PO people probably see all of us eBay shippers, and have a pretty fair idea of shipping volumes. We'll see.

I have found two sites that are looking for "homemade" photographs to sell to buyers. Competition for the expensive stock photo places, using amateur photographers. Sounds like a good idea. I will post that info another time - soon, I promise.

Happy Wednesday.

A Reconfiguration of the Percentage Idea

It has turned out that my idea of judging success by the percentage of sold items to ended listings is no good. eBay doesn't count "Good Til Cancelled" store items as ending when they roll over every thirty days. The "Ended Listings" figure only shows items which have been put up for auction, not listed directly to store inventory.

The new plan is to divide the "Number Sold" by the total of "Active Items" plus "Number Sold." Instead of 21%, I get a figure of 8.9%. It is just occurring to me that to get a monthly figure, the "Number Sold" would have to be "Number Sold in Month," which means that it is going to be a couple extra steps that are not immediately presented by eBay's figures. They do give Sales Reports, which have shown that 8 or 9 percent figure, but the reports are published with a delay of many days. Maybe that is OK for someone who has been at it for a longer time. I am anxious to get the figures right now - sign of the times, eh?

People continue to buy ads I almost didn't even list. I take it that means that my thinking is not what should be guiding the world. There's a lesson in humility. I'll take it. Character building.

So, if volume is the answer, I'd better get scanning.

Happy Wednesday.

Some Further Thoughts on eBay Sales

Two weeks without a post. So much for reform. I will keep trying to do better.

Last week was busy. Besides trying to get a lot of ads posted on eBay, with only moderate success, I had jury duty, a taxiing obligation for the mother of a friend of my wife's, and the Stanley Cup playoffs. After working nights for so many years and having to listen on the radio or sort of watch on the internet, it seems I just have to watch every game that is televised. We got to the Devils-Senators game Saturday night, after going to a granddaughter's first communion. Long day, long week.

Just a couple thoughts on jury duty. First, I really lucked out. It is supposed to be a one week obligation but my number was excused for Monday but ordered in for Tuesday. At the end of Tuesday, after being in the pool for one trial but not selected, I were told that we were done, see you in three years. Well, I did my bit. They need a lot of people to select from, and even if you aren't selected for anything, at least you helped provide the depth of the pool needed.

As for eBay, postings are up to about 830 and the proportion of sales to ended listings is at about 20%. The number of listings seems to be the key, so I'll keep plugging along. The older ads continue to be the biggest sellers, but not all. I haven't figured out any percentages. My feelings about whether an ad will sell seem to be completely irrelevant. Some I have almost not even listed had sold fast and ones I think are neat are still up there. It has to be just some function of who happens to find what they are looking for, which seems to me to indicate volume and variety.

My brother keeps busting me about typos. Thanks, Rick. I'll keep trying there as well.

Happy Monday.

Some Analytical Thoughts on Sales

It seems that everytime I've checked, my sales have been between 15 and 20 percent of the ended listings. If that percentage were to hold true, and the number of completed listings got up in the couple thousand range, it would be a pretty good income.

Total current listings are approaching 600. I'll keep slogging and report back. It takes a while to get things listed, so you might not want to hold your breath.

I also did some studying of the sold ads, and, as mentioned last time, they are of the fishing, boating and WWII genre, but I noticed one more important fact: Most of them were pre-1960 (about - I just remember that they are older).

My hundreth positive feedback showed up today, along with the turquoise star. That feels like a milestone. Fifty didn't seem that long ago.

I'm also finding some fun at MyBlogLog - it's a friendly and fun place it you want to check it out.

Happy Monday.

Thoughts on eBay Sales—So Far

The first ads I listed on eBay where from fishing magazines, because that is what I like. There were ads for boats, lures, rods, reels, and the like. It sort of fits in with the Hot Dogs and Bait theme.

As I studied the ads—believe me, by the time they are removed from the magazine, scanned, described and listed, they have been studied—I became fascinated with the World War II era ads. Most of the companies which had been making sporting goods (reels, rods, lures, boats, outboards, guns) were only making things for the war effort. One ad said something like, Tie your lure on really well— you cant't get another until the war is over. Many of the WWII ads were simply tributes to the troops and the company's efforts in making things for them.

In reviewing completed sales on eBay, I saw a lot of other types of ads and expanded my subject matter to include just about anything that appeared in front of me.

Some analysis of my sales to date shows that the biggest selling categories so far are boating, WWII and fishing. That is encouraging, since those were my interests.

I am considering refining what I list, and collecting the other categories, like tobacco and cars, to be offered in bulk lots, rather than individual listings. Results to follow, if I pursue it.

Happy Friday.

A Promise to Reform

Last post was on St. Patrick's Day. I promise to reform. With the idea of being able to do what I say, let's say that there will be a new post at least once a week. That should hold down the salivating from all of the loyal fans out there. It's like waiting for the next Harry Potter book.

Speaking of that, how lucky is a guy who has had the experience of waiting for new books in two great series? The first was John Jakes "The Bastard" series back in the seventy's and now Harry Potter. John Jakes was the first author who made me feel as history was alive. As I remember, it was something about the feel and sound of crunching bones in a battle scene that started it. That was a series of book tracing a family from France to the US in pre-revolutionary times and up through about 1930. I loved the way he had his fictional characters meet up with real historical people.

My excuse for not getting here is the eBay venture. So far it has been a mix of excitement and frustration, but enough of the former to keep plugging away. I am selling old magazine ads for those who missed that announcement. I started an eBay store, also called "Hot Dogs and Bait," (there is a link to the right - shameless self promotion moment).

It takes much more time than I had anticipated to get an ad actually listed on eBay. I won't go through all the steps now, as there are many. I'm learning all the time and so far things seem to be on the upward track. More traffic than last month and more sales, which seems like the way it should go.

I just found a very interesting blog that I want to pass along. It's called "The Auction Rebel" and here's the link:

http://theauctionrebel.com/

There are many ideas, tips and techniques about eBay selling there. If you are new to it, as I am, you may find some good information there.

I just want to share one personal feeling from the eBay undertaking. One ad I listed was an ad from Winchester and their new (then) M-1 rifle. It should a SeaBee with an M-1 slung on his shoulder and told some of the places the SeaBees had been working—Guadalcanal comes to mind. Someone bought it, and in a note in the Paypal payment, said, "My SeaBee is in Iraq. I want to have this framed for when he comes home." It still gets me choked up.

Enough for now. Happy Day.

A Tough Day for the Little People

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. I've been lucky enough to get to Ireland twice, and loved it.

It's only coming up to 11 AM this Saturday, and already it has been one of those days that you have to have once in a while to make you appreciate the good days. Maybe this will make someone else feel lucky.

I got up at 5:30 because my son had said he had to be at work by 6:30. As I was going to the kitchen to make that gotta-get-my-eyes-open first pot of coffee, my daughter, who had fallen asleep in the living room, started complaining that she couldn't sleep with all the racket. I said, "What rack?" She said, "Patrick!!" (that's my son). I said, "Where's he?:" She said, "He went out." "Out for what?", I asked. "I dunno," she answered. A call to his cell phone informed he that he had finally gotten to go snow plowing with his boss. Finally there was enough snow to get out a plow. But don't bother to tell the old man (he thought he had). All this before coffee, mind you.

Before I had finished the first cup of coffee, I learned that the furnace was making a loud buzzing noise, water was leaking in over the sliding door to the deck, and there was about 3 inches of frozen snow all over everything, including the steps from the deck so I couldn't get the dog down to the ground. You can use your imagination for the details, but it wasn't as serious as it might have been, thank God.

As I waited for the sun to light things up, I knew I was going to need some extra strength to get through all of the challenges that were ahead. Much as I wanted to get started, I determined to read my daily devotionals, lest they get lost in the upcoming events.

Don't tell me that God doesn't answer prayers. The snow shoveling is well underway, the ice clogging the gutter over the sliding door has been opened up, the bird seed got out to the "squirrel feeder," the cardinals showed up along with a bunch of others, two guys from the oil burner company are putting in a new motor in the furnace, there have been some sales and emails from the eBay listings, my daughter managed to get her car out of the unshoveled drive way to get to work, and the dog got down to the ground level for the next, more serious calling.

After all that, it is going to be a great day. I hope for you, too.

Jumpin' Jeehosophats!

I was greeted Saturday morning by an email saying that someone had bought an ad on eBay. That was excitement. (For you younger folks, just wait—it doesn't take so much when you get old.) So I got real busy and got another 25 ads listed, getting my total close to 120.

This morning started with emails telling of sales of 4 ads and now, it's up to 8 for today and it's only early evening on the west coast. I do think I'm on to something. There are some things that are driving me crazy, like how to edit something out of a template that was used for one unique situation but eBay is using it for everything. I'll find it eventually. Meanwhile, the learning curve still goes up, but so does the income curve. That's motivation!

Thanks to all of you bloggers who unknowingly encouraged me to get into this. I don't remember all the places I visited on the way, but they all helped. Thanks even though you probably won't know about it.

Happy night.

Off We Go

I am pleased to report my first sale and shipment from the eBay store, and so we are officially in business! It was not an ad, but rather an old book that I had put up for auction in January and relisted it when I was starting the store. Not enough to retire on, but a starting mark.

On a whim, in keeping with the Hot Dogs and Bait theme of fun things I like, I bought a case of diecast fire trucks —along with twenty thousand other people apparently. Have to experiment.

There aren't enough hours in the day anymore. My room is getting smaller from the magazines and ancillary supplies. But then, there are other things like helping get the mother of a friend of my wife's to the hospital for radiation treatments and watching the Devils, which I am missing now.

Happy night!

Notes from the First Week

The first item up for auction will end in a couple hours. At this moment, it hasn't sold, but it has been looked at and some other items have bids and watchers. That is as exciting as it was to see that this blog had been viewed from four or five continents (if China is a separate continent from Europe, then it's five). And someone from here had actually gone to the eBay store.

In going through the old magazines, I've been particularly impressed by the World War II era ads. Many if not most manufacturing companies were not making their rods, reels, lures, binolculars, rifles, scopes or motors, but rather were making things for the war effort. The scope is just amazing. And just as the humans who fought the war are leaving us in large numbers (my first post-retirement obligation was the funeral of an uncle who went into Normandy on D-Day plus 2 or 3), the magazines with those ads are probably disappearing as well. so the ads are real treasures as a piece of history. They sure were pre-PC!

I think I like this new career. It uses a lot of what I did in print graphics (especially the spellchecking) and adds to it with all the online facets, which are overwhelming in total, but still just a zero or a one if you take it easy. This old dog is learning some new tricks.

Happy day to all.

The Next Career Has Begun

The bullet has been bit(ten) and an eBay store has been started. It hasn't been as easy as I had expected, but it is happening. Here's the link, should any one care to look:
http://stores.ebay.com/Hot-Dogs-and-Bait

It's a new venture, so please be gentle with your criticism. Maybe in a couple weeks, it will have been developed to the point imagined at the start.

In considering what I wrote a few posts back and doing some hefty research into what's selling, I came across the idea of selling ads from old magazines, mostly of a fishing theme to start. And so I did it.

One of the convincing ideas was that I had bought an ad for the sailboat I bought a few years ago. It's been on my wall and frequently viewed. So, we'll see if I can find something that is of similar value to someone else. That, after all, was the whole idea as originally spewed forth.

In looking through some of the magazines I got to get started, I found a fabulous editorial about an organization called the Future Fisherman Foundation. One of their main functions is running a program called "Hooked on Fishing—Not On Drugs." What really impressed me was that the initiator, Tom Bedell and the Berkley Company, set it up without mentioning the company. Talk about giving back!! It sounds like a terrific program. Here's their link:
http://www.futurefisherman.org

It's been a good week, overall—starting the eBay store and finding out about the Future Fisherman Foundation. Those two things are exciting. Wish us all luck.

A Lesson Learned

They say “time flies when you’re having fun.” Looking at the date of the previous post makes me wonder just how much fun I’ve been having. It sure didn’t seem like that much fun, although life has been going along pretty well and there is no room for complaint. That’s not too bad, when I think about it.

There is one thing I have learned that I really want to pass along to anyone who publishes something. And it is: double, better yet, triple proofread before publishing. And make use of SPELLCHECKERS.

Typos have long been a pet peeve of mine, having been a typesetter for many years. I mentioned this blog to my brother a few days ago, and he emailed me with a short lecture on spelling errors, pointing out several he had noticed. When I recovered from my mortification, which was especially huge because I thought I had corrected everything, I copied all the posts and ran them through the spellchecker in Word, which found about 6 or 7 additional typos. My apologies to anyone else who was offended.

Until I find where Blogspot has hidden the spellchecker, I will create these blogs—and anything else to be published—in Word or something else with a spellchecker and paste it into the post dialog box.

My brother is thinking of starting a small publishing business for those authors whose work is not of interest to the world of regular publishers. It would be interesting to know if anyone “out there” would find such a service of interest. It seems to me that the “print on demand” idea might be valuable for such an endeavor. Research is underway, in a small fashion.

I’ve actually been thinking about and researching the results of the last post. The result is that I’ve come up with something to begin trying to sell on eBay and actually think that it may have be successful. I will keep the subject quiet for now, lest the secret gets to too many potential competitors.

Products derived from "Hot Dogs and Bait"

So today, as I get closer to beginning my next career (online marketing), let's consider what might develop from the words "Hot Dogs and Bait."

Hot dogs are a kind of food. Probably not gourmet by most classifiers, but something which is enjoyable and provides at least some of the necessary parts of the food chain. Low level, easy, common, many variations. So we have enjoyable and necessary.

Bait is something used to attract something else, in this instance, fish. Fishing is an outdoor sport or recreation, or a livelihood for some. I am going to exclude fishing for a living from this blog. So we're talking about having fun outdoors.

From the above, I think we can start to look at things having to do with fishing and other outdoor activities, food, enjoyment and necessaries. Not an all inclusive list, but broad enough for a beginning. Food for thought for the next installment.

Da Bears

There's a line across the living room. Da Bears fans go on this side, the other ones go over there. I would have liked to arrange it so that only those on this side could see the TV, but unfortunately, my bride, the one who is going to provide all the food, is one of the others and I had to let her see. There's no heat or running water in our dog house, if you get my drift. But any team that would sneak out of town in the middle of the night doesn't have any business being in the Super Bowl. We'll see how it is tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to list some of the neat blogs I've visited on this blog. It's probably just me - I'm sure I saw that it could be done.

Go enjoy the game.

Continuing to be amazed at all the things you guys have done and are doing. Thanks to all.

My brother sent me a draft of a book he's hoping to publish. It's a collection of poems he has written over the years based on his farm near Flemington, NJ. I didn't know he was so good at capturing feelings about things we walk by and take for granted.

My wife gave me two tickets to a Devils-Rangers game a couple weeks ago as a Christmas present. That resurrected my old (from college) love of hockey. Been hooked on the Devils games since. They've changed a lot since the strike. Seems mostly for the better. The All Star game last week was a terrific show of the talent in the league. I helped out as a student trainer during my college days and sometimes have to fill in at the hockey games. Hadn't seen that much blood since watching autopsies in my pre-med days (they cured that interest and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up). What a great game against the Flyers last night. Can't believe the Flyers are in last place, playing the way they did. But I'm glad the Devils won.

The guy from the marina down the road just came by and said he had finally cut out the centerboard from my sailboat which got wrecked in September when Eduardo passed by. Now I have to see if the guy who had wanted it in October still wants it. I hope so—I haven't thought of what to do with a centerboard that is too heavy for one guy to pick up.

I've got to work on my picture taking to see if I can add something worthwhile to the web, after seeking what
willetphoto has done.

Catching Up

I've really been surprised at what I've learned the last few days about what you guys have accomplished with this Internet. Looking at some other blogs, I'm impressed. Even someone's child's sniffles take on some importance. The question is, can we handle so much information? How to filter it down to what is of interest, but not close the door on learning about something unknown which would be of interest? From what I've seen, I expect that the questions have been answered, at least in good part, by those of you who have been around longer.

The pay per post idea sound interesting for a retired guy looking for some extra income. It is all fascinating.

I'm working on learning HTML. Made my first "web page" yesterday - it's not online, just on my hard drive. But it worked!! When the web first came into existence, I looked at HTML and said, no, I learned all that kind of coding to be a typesetter, and now it is totally worthless. I'm not going to waste all that brain power on something which will be useless in a few years. Well, know that thinking has changed, and it's time to learn. Wish me luck.

(This used to be in the profile. Now I have to figure out how to get it back there.)

Well, as I said before, I'm new at this and I expect to have to learn a lot. Like what happened to my picture in the profile? I had to reinstall my system software yesterday (had to get X11 installed in order to use Open Office 2. Maybe that had something to do with it. I know these web pages have to know where to look to find something, and probably something changed along the way.

That's one thing I love about computers—they show the fallibility of the human being. Computers only do what we tell them, so if the result is wrong, it is usually the human's fault, not the computer's, although we do have to allow for hardware malfunctions and software glitches, just to make problem solving more difficult. Those who can say, "Maybe I made a mistake" will get back on track much faster than those who can't.

Open Office seems really cool—all kinds of features for free, and NOT Microsoft! But there is a learning curve and the tools, at least in draw and database, are not intuitive. Resources for learning are not easy to find, at least so far. There is an extensive help file, but the terms are not explained. But maybe it's just my ignorance. I've only been working at these machines for 25 years or so.

Just Starting

They said "Create Blog" so I clicked it and here we go. Now that I have almost all the time in the world and I already spend a lot of it at the computer, it's time to catch up with the rest of you. Actually, I've been an online guy since the late 1980's, a Delphi BBS member since back before AOL, when everything was just text, no graphics. Progress is amazing. Let's see where this goes.