Nuts
by acdickson
Since AC has started living high on the hog of his eBay profits, he's taken to seeking pleasure in food. Lately he and the missus have taken to having a cheese and smoked salmon plate for dinner. Adorned with roasted red peppers and perhaps some ripe vine tomatoes slices, it's a delicious supper. But you know what puts that plate over the top? Not crackers (as an aside there are surprisingly few good crackers on the market).
Nuts. Pine nuts. Cashew nuts. Walnuts. You get the picture. Now Trader's Joe's is usually my go to source for nut needs, but the other day AC was running short for time so he trucked it on over to the Ralph's supermarket emporium a short walk away.
The funny thing about buying nuts at a traditional supermarket like Ralph's as opposed to Trader's Joe's is that there is more than one place to find them. In the snack area. Near the alcohol. By the fancy cheese and meats. In the baking section. Hanging out on a shelf. But you know where the cheapest nuts can be found? On the bottom shelf beneath the apple bins, inches from the floor. AC found a huge bag of Pistashio's for $2.50 hidden from view. Sunkist brand no less! A smaller bag cost twice that in the baking section and three times that by the smoked gouda.
Where's this going? I could rant and rave about product placement within a store and the audacity of hiding the cheapest products where consumers are least likely to find them. Or how Trader Joe's is so successful because Americans are bombarded with choice and having nuts in one place as opposed to six in the same store makes life easier. Or how I don't why Macademia nuts are so overpriced. But it strikes me that there are probably dozens of other bloggers ranting and raving about these very same ideas. It makes me wonder if there is anything new to say. Are there any new insights to be made? Am I special or unique? Of course I am.
Because I'm an eBay PowerSelling dealing in hard to find items. Many of the turn of the century postcards I sell aren't available for sale anywhere else online. You have to go through me. And some of things I sell are completely unique and one of a kind. Like the spot on Ultimate Blogger. Which incidentally is up to $201.
Speaking of which, will there be a pop-off tomorrow? Is there any more room for it go up? Time will only tell. If you're hanging out around noon west coast time manana and need to stretch your legs, put on something with a good beat and help me dance it up.
Posted on February 24, 2006 | Comments (0)
The Golden Ticket
by acdickson
By now you've surely heard the news. AC is auctioning off a free pass onto the second season of the Ultimate Blogger. If you've been living in a cave read more about the competition here. Big ups to the Ultimate Blogger crew for putting together my first ever video enabled auction.
As I write this it's already been bid up to $22.50 with 6 watchers and over 180 page views. If you're an eBay member use the watch option to keep an eye on the auction. It's a long shot, but if we get enough watchers we could get on the front page of eBay pulse where the ten hottest auctions in the eBay are featured for all the world to see.
AC will admit, it won't be easy. This week we're competing against the likes of "For Sale: One Talented Man" with over 11,000 hits and a lovely Victorian Home in Missouri that looks like a great deal!
Make no mistake, AC has nothing to gain directly from the Ultimate Blogger auction directly. The winnings are all going to the support the game. But tangentially, AC would be a fool not to position him for a financial windfall. Listen and learn.
Now, AC already has over 350 items sitting pretty in his eBay store. But most of what he's selling are NASA photographs and antique postcards. Not exactly the kind of things Bloggers are likely to go loco for. So, AC has listed 15 week long auctions to bookend the Ultimate Blogger free pass that should be right up the alley of today's hip savvy and stylish blogger. Such as...
The Weirdest T-shirt in the World HIPSTER GOLD Shock & Awe. Now that's a title. Interestingly enough, while putting "hipster" and "gold" into the eBay search engine will yield 22 auctions, AC's in the only that features something that isn't physically gold. For the literate crowd I've got a Psychedelic copy of A Clockwork Orange. Extremely nice piece of eye candy for your bookshelf.
And I defy you to resist clicking on this one. How smart are you? Find out if you're MENSA material. Note the title technique, first off I don't tell the potential bidder what I'm selling. Instead I challenge them. Who doesn't think they're smarter than everyone else.
AC isn't the only one looking to cash in on the Ultimate Blogger fanfare. As James noticed earlier today, an eBay seller going by the tag of GRAWL has a nice eBay business selling domain names (FluMedicine.org went for $20.51). Ending this afternoon is UBHQ.com. And GRAWL has a few suggestions of who this might be a great site for, such as University of Buffalo HQ. But the one he uses in the auction title is Ultimate Blogger HQ. What do the UrHo head honchos think? A deal for $9.99 or too little too late? Either way I'd take it as flattery.
I'll check in later in the week and see how the auction is progressing. Will I see your user name as the high bidder?
Posted on February 21, 2006 | Comments (1)
UK reverse invasion
by acdickson
AC is back in Los Angeles after another assault on the Old Country. He and Susan rocked Bristol and Birmingham with a couple of top form eBay seminars. Both fun and lovely places. I'd post pictures here but somehow we just didn't manage to take any. Too busy preaching eBay PowerSelling.
Bristol was fantastic. We were part of the Arnolfini In Between Time Festival and saw some amazing works. Until Thursday combined some truly remarkable old school rapping with an evangelical home shopping salesman. Paul Granjon demonstrated the robots he built to have sex with each other, and Lone Twin performed a great piece where they walked the equivalent of a journey to the top of Everest. All told about half the British performers we met are two guys who use a rock band type stage name. Maybe AC and Susan need to try that. Like Primal Horde. Or how about The Cheatah's (combining the animal with cheating)? Any suggestions on a good name?
Birmingham was a particularly pleasant surprise. We got hooked up by our friend Vladamir with a lovely couple who run the very cool 7 inch cinema. They invited Vlad over for a Vladmaster tour and was nice enough to put us in touch with the Flat Pack gang who hooked us up with an eBay show two weeks later. I had heard various negative things about Birm before we got there; super industrial, bleak, bad accents. But found it a splendid place with a lot to write home about. First off there's a ferris wheel in the center of city. So that's cool. Secondly there are awesome museums, all free, and lots of interesting new architecture. It also has the coolest looking mall this side of Japan. Plus Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin are from there, making it the birthplace of Metal. Lastly our show was at the Custard Factory, an old... well, custard factory with bars, shops, a theater, production companies and deign houses. Finally it has more canals than Venice.
As AC settles back in life stateside, expect some big things both here on the blog and through eBay in the next few days. Stay tuned...
Posted on February 17, 2006 | Comments (0)
Having a good time, mate
by acdickson
AC and partner for life Susan are in Bristol England (birthplace of Tricky, Massive Attack and Portishead) and are adjusting to the time fairly well. This last bit is no easy prospect. The eight hour time difference puts up going to bed in the early afternoon and getting up at midnight according to our regular schedule. But having a couple discs of season 3 of 24 from Netflix was extremely helpful in helping us stay up late enough to get on UK time.
Initial impressions of Bristol? Expensive, but such is the lot in life for the traveling American. Prices are very much in the English favor. AC recently read a piece about working class Irish families traveling to Newark for a day or two to take advantage of the exchange rate and mall sales. It's well worth the travel expenses to head over for a shopping spree of Fubu and Rocca wear for the next few years. (Why these folks don't just shop eBay is beyond me. Then again, I've yet to discover firsthand the delights of a Newark vacation).
The biggest perk so far is free city center internet. That's right, free internet! Answer a quick survey and you're on. Very high speed. My impression is that while Portland is trying to get it together the only place in the US that has free internet right now is some town in Utah where you can log on as long as you endure the banner ad from the business man fronting the service. Are there any actual cities that have free service?
Beyond that the fish and chips are great.
Posted on February 2, 2006 | Comments (2)