On the day of the yard sale, people started showing up the instant we began to setup at around 8 am.  They were relentless in their quest to get first shot at our goods.  One woman, wearing a Harvard University sweatshirt, ingratiated herself by helping us unbox items and set them up.  A huge crowd of people stood at the foot of our driveway for nearly twenty minutes waiting for 10 am to arrive (one of our friends was well experienced in the art of the yardsale and made sure that the "early birds" waited until we were ready).  When we declared that we were open for business, the throng of people snapped forward and grabbed and snarled for our "valuable" junk (actually, some of the stuff was pretty darn good).

I was amazed at the bargaining mentality of many of the people.  No matter what the price, it was clearly mandatory to request a lower price.  For example, on a small toy that was marked for only twenty-five cents ($0.25), one person asked if I would take fifteen cents ($0.15).  Obviously that dime was more meaningful to that person than it was to me as I took the fifteen cents faster than you could say Johnny Lightening (I figured that I could immediately turn around and buy a tootsie pop for not only Ben and Sam, but also myself...woohoo).

I believe the sale was a success as there wasn't much that had to be brought back into the house.  The commerce laden activity was so hot and inspirational to me that I placed a couple of unsold games (1967 3M Facts in Five and 1967 3M Mr. President) up for auction on ebay; this is the first time that I had ever done engaged in ebay as a seller.  Wish me luck.  One of the items has already received a bid, so I won't have that game cluttering up the house any longer.

The procedure was straight-forward and painless  It took me, at most, one hour to prepare and submit by auctions.  I viewed similar items up for auction and checked the "completed" items to get a sense of an appropriate opening bid.  The auctions end on Tuesday evening.  I'll provide an update on the transaction on Wednesday.  Maybe I've found a new career?

Finally...Roger, Roger, Roger.  Pedro Martinez dominated the Bronx Bombers, as the Red Sox  pound Roger Clemens and the Yankees in record fashion, 13-1.  Goodbye Roger, goodbye Roger, goodbye Roger, we're glad to see you go. (Sadly, he may very well have the last laugh.  The Yankees are a very good team.)