Choo choo!

After much intense looking for that perfect trade, I have given my Pez dispensers over for a train set. I think that this is a perfect trade for me on my way to a TV.

There have been accusations that this was a "pity trade" which I have been on record as being against. Now, before I tell you who did this trade with me, let me point out a few things in my defense:

1. This person had just gotten a new train set and was going to give this one to the Salvation Army. So they had no need for this train set and was trying to get rid of it (the perfect situation for me)
2. When asked what she was going to do with the Pez dispensers, she replied "Eat Pez with them". Who could go wrong with that!
3. Even if it was a pity trade, that won't bother me too much when I'm watching my giant TV.

So, the person I traded with was my mom :-). When we went up there for Christmas, she had this train set and offered it up for the Pez dispensers. As I just mentioned, it seemed like a great fit.

I took it into work, where I set it up running around my cubicle. There wasn't enough room to safely make a complete circular track (the turning radius of the curvy pieces wasn't big enough). But there are 2 stop pieces that prevent the train from falling off my desk. Here's a picture.



It runs around the whole semicircle - I just didn't take a picture of the other side. There are 3 cars (an engine and 2 other cars) along with lots of extra pieces and town sets (like the orange depot that you can see in the picture). Instructions are included as well. This is perfect for any train-loving child or adult.

Let me know if you have anything that you don't want or need and want a train set!

Pez Dispensers

The swap for the Pez dispensers went off without a hitch. Well, there may have been one or two minor hitches, but nonetheless, now up for trade are a set of C3PO and R2D2 Pez dispensers. Above you see the dispensers in their full glory. In the bottom picture you see my co-worker Ramon (on the left) and I making the swap.

There was some discussion that this was actually a down-trade for me, but I have confidence that I am well on my way to an HDTV. In fact, I have already been offered a New Husband Voodoo doll for the Pez dispensers, though I am still accepting any and all other offers.

You can all say you knew me back when

Folks, I would like to call to your attention that this endeavor has, already, in its infancy, been called, and I quote, "semi-successful". I would also like to point out that the first sentence of this blog had 6 more commas than the second sentence.

It's on the Internet, so it MUST be true.

Yes, I think I can agree with one red paperclip afficionado Kyle when he says "This is officially getting out of hand"

Josie and the Pussycats

I am now the proud owner of one Josie and the Pussycats VHS tape. In case you are wondering, and I know that you are, and in the special case that you are legally blind and "reading" this blog with special auditory scanning software (so as to not be able to see the episode title in big letters in the picture above), or possibly you have a special aversion to run-on sentences and have had your brain dis-engaged, I will tell you it is titled The Melody Memory Mix-up. Though you can't see this from the picture of the front cover, it also contains the episodes Chase, The Great PussycatNever Mind a Mastermind and Strangemoon Over Miami. I should also point out that this is shrinkwrapped and never been opened!

I have to say that when my co-worker Mark was mentioning this tape yesterday, I thought that it was the live-action movie version of Josie and the Pussycats, although in hindsight he never specified one way or the other. Either way, I was happy to make the trade.

I had been talking with Ramon, another co-worker of mine, about trading the Josie and the Pussycats tape for a set of C3PO and R2D2 Pez dispensers. After making the BBQ sauce / Josie trade, I went over to Ramon and told him that he shouldn't feel obligated to trade with me if he was wanting the live-action version. He said no, that he wanted the cartoon version. So stay tuned to this same bat-channel for further trading action!

Scandal!

There was scandal as the Barbecue TV project got underway this morning. I had brought in the "saucy" bottle of Open Pit Chilé Lime flavored barbecue sauce to trade it. Yesterday, Mark, a co-worker of mine, had agreed to exchange his VHS copy of "Josie and the Pussycats" for the barbecue sauce.

I put the BBQ sauce on my desk and went about my day. Sometime in the 9:00 hour, I returned to my desk and the BBQ sauce was gone! I immediately went into a tirade and launched the biggest witch trials this side of Salem Mass, in an attempt to recover my missing bbq sauce. I questioned co-workers, looking for anyone that had perhaps made large purchases of pulled pork. I made shotgun accusations of everyone I came into contact with, hoping that the guilty culprit would crack under the strain.

My efforts, while not completely successful in rooting out the evil-doer, did bear some fruit - some time around 10:30 or so, I returned to my desk and the BBQ was back on my desk. Sensing a plan, I locked it in my desk drawer, and went around still looking for the guilty party. The thought was to keep asking people in the hopes that someone would say something to the effect of "I took it but I put it back on your desk an hour ago so I don't know who has it now" at which time I could leap out at them and yell "Aha!". Unfortunately I am more Mr. Watson than Sherlock Holmes (my middle name is even Watson).

The next big break in the case came when a co-worker that sits next to me, who shall remain nameless but for story-telling purposes we will call Don, mentioned that he did not take it but that he knew who had. He would not give up the prankster but did clear another co-worker of mine that sits next to me, who we will call Larry. Larry had been my chief suspect and was grateful that he had been cleared. Afterwards, "Larry" said that he was very intimidated by my interrogatory techniques and, although innocent, was about to cop to the crime nonetheless. "Don" would still not give up the culprit, even though we threatened to reveal long-haired pictures of him in his formative years.

Eventually we were able to determine and confront the guilty party. Even though he/she did not openly admit to the incident, I believe that there would be enough evidence to convict in a court of law.

As you can see below, the trade did go through this afternoon. That's me on the left and Mark on the right.

I would like to state, for the record, that I have no hard feelings about the whole incident, though I will say that the potential candidacy of Pappu / Miller for the 2008 Presidential race has certainly taken a big hit.

Open Pit

Here are some pictures of the barbecue sauce in question.






Closeup of the Barbecue sauce before the first trade.

















Here we have my saucy wife Vanna-ing the BBQ sauce. Yes that is a good one. You know, "saucy". :-)

Barbecue TV

Alrighty then. Inspired by this wonderful blog, not to mention "The Great Brain", I've decided to set up this additional blog to catalog my wonderful adventures through wacky hijinks to turn one bottle of Open Pit Chile Lime BBQ sauce into a big screen HDTV.

To start off, some initial thoughts / rationale.

• Ending trade: I did not want to rip off Kyle's (from one red paperclip) idea of ending from a house. He's doing a house, so more power to him. Plus, I already have a house. Not that I would turn down a better house, should I be able to get one, but I thought I'd try something else. I eventually settled on a big-screen HDTV. I don't know anything about what makes a good TV, so when I get closer to that, I'll have to find someone who is knowledgable about these things.
• Beginning item: I wanted something trivial, yet something that might have *some* trade value. Plus, it being in my house to begin with was a huge positive. I settled on Open Pit BBQ sauce. Point #1 - I have about 200 bottles in the basement that I've gotten for free (see here for an example). Point #2 it's something cheap / trivial. Point #3, It at least has some trade value (Retail price: $1.79). Point #4: I have now punctuated my 4 points in 4 different ways (hyphen space comma colon) and until you just read this sentence you didn't even notice. I also thought about taking the worst gift received at next week's Christmas Gift Exchange and starting with that but decided not to. I may do a separate one with that at some point.
  
• Pity trades: I don't want no steenkin pity trades. By pity trades I mean someone that trades with me just to help me out or trades me something worth much more than my gift. For example, someone offered a Star Wars original trilogy VHS set for my barbecue sauce. I turned him down for being a pity trade. Plus he may have been kidding. But if I can turn my BBQ sauce into something a step or two up, I may revisit the trilogy tapes.
• Taxes: As a seasonal tax associate, this came to mind. I'm not a tax expert, but it would seem to me that something like this might run afoul of the IRS. I would imagine that regular trades would not have tax consequences, but if someone gave you a house for a paperclip, I feel 99% certain that the IRS would treat that as a gift and require you to pay income taxes on it. But I'm not sure about the trading multiple times. You could argue that a paperclip and a fish pen have equal value (hence the trade), and therefore no income needs be declared. But then could you also say that a fish pen has equal value with a doorknob? And a doorknob a Coleman stove? This is where I'm not so sure. In any case, because you can give somebody up to $11,000 tax-free each year, I'm going to say that I am going to be okay, since my TV will not cost that much. I may ask someone at one of my next classes. But you can be sure that if I do, I will ask before or after class, and not waste class time with something so off-the-wall because ARRRRRGGGGH IT IS SO FRUSTRATING THE STUPID TIME-WASTING QUESTIONS THAT PEOPLE ASK! Not that I just spent 3 hours last night having people ask these types of stupid questions. "Yeah, so what if someone came in, and they said that they got this house and they paid for it with a paperclip? Would they have to pay taxes on it?"

So, I will keep you updated. Right now - up for trade - one bottle of BBQ sauce!