Dear Recovery Group,

Is the dinosaur in the window behind the "Closed" sign for sale?  If yes, how much is it?  Are any of the geometric shapes on the building for sale (i.e., circle, square, etc.)?  How much are they each?  Do you have any Metro shelving for sale?

Sincerely,

Bruce D. Weinberg

(See the June 16 diary entry to see photographs of some of the items that I mention in this email.)

I received the following reply email:

Sorry Bruce, we are not selling any individual items.

Good luck, and thank you for your interest.

I then sent off an email asking for more detail:

Dear (I withheld name),

So what is for sale?  Is this listed somewhere or do I just send in requests and wait for a response?

Thank you,

Bruce

The Recovery  Group then replied:
Dear Bruce

Attached you will find the confidentiality agreement as well as the bid process documents that relate to the assets of toysmart.com.   If you have not already forwarded a signed confidentiality agreement please do so and I can forward more of the other details to you.

 If there is further information you require please reply to this e-mail or call me directly at (phone numbers withheld).

(name withheld)

To make a long story short, one of the documents detailed that all bids were to be received by 6:00pm on June 19, 2000.  So, I did not place a bid.  I would love to post the auction documents which were emailed to me, but I am not sure whether I am bound to any confidentiality.  I emailed The Recovery Group asking whether this was the case and I did not get a reply.  I'll ask some attorney friends of mine.  These documents give a small glimpse into a part of the bankruptcy and recovery process for an ecommerce failure.

Snap-N-Go-LX
I just got the word that my sister in law (SIL) purchased a Graco infant car seat of some type (see June 13 diary entry for the beginning of this episode).  When she made her purchase, she confirmed with the salesperson that it was compatible with the the Baby Trend Snap-N-Go-LX stroller frame.  The Snap-N-Go-LX product information at the Baby Trend website, however, does not indicate that it is compatible with the Graco.  Given this information I was still hesitant to order the Snap-N-Go-LX for her.  Amy said that our SIL said that the salesperson did indicate which car seats were and were not compatible with the Baby Trend stroller frame.  I said "ok," and went ahead and ordered the product through estyle's babystyle site.  I used a $10 off Father's day coupon code that was sent to me.

I sure hope that the Graco infant car seat works with it as I do not want my sister in law to be in a situation where either she has to return or exchange the item or she does not use it.  I want the gift to be "right."  Is that so wrooong (to be said with the proper Brooklyn accent).

First Night at a new General Cinema
One of my sisters works for General Cinema.   They had a company grand opening "first night" celebration for their new cinema at the old "Sears Building" in the Fenway, near Fenway Park.  GC invited family and friends to the event, so Ben, Sam and I went (and gave Amy a little bit of a break).  This cinema is awesome.  It has thirteen screens, stadium seating (so your view will not be blocked) and plenty of leg room (i.e., you can stretch out and you will not need to stand up in order to let someone by).  I believe the cinema will open to the public this Friday (June 23) and I can easily imagine this theater doing very well.  The festivities included all the popcorn, soft drinks, candy, pizza and grand opening cake one could consume -- and the boys and I did a fine job.  In addition, everyone was treated to a special movie screening, the first on their new screens.

The alternatives were Me, Myself & Irene, U-571, Erin Brockovich and Chicken Run.  The boys and I saw Chicken Run, which was rated G.  At the beginning I thought the movie was a little bit ridiculous; slowly but surely, the characters grew on me and I ended up liking the film.  The guys sat through the whole movie too and loved it (though I believe that their most favorite part of the evening was playing with "Popcorn Bob" who was at the celebration in costume -- that's the name of the popcorn character that appears during the movie previews).  I'm no (Siskel &) Ebert, but I'll give it a thumbs up.