Selling money for money

 Two collectors told me essentially the same thing.  These silver certificates aren't worth more than $1 each but I should hold onto them or sell them on Facebook Marketplace.  I did the latter and got some quick responses.  I took an offer for $20 for the fifteen of them.  (Some knucklehead offered me $14, probably as a joke and I quickly insulted him before the post got archived after the sale).

What this tells me is that One Dollar Silver Certificates, especially in the condition these were in, are not worth a professional collector's time and effort.  But perhaps an amateur collector can sell enough on volume to make a difference.

I asked the guy who bought them what he was gonna do with them and he said he just likes to collect old coins.  That's probably it.  

I'm now free of those dollars.  I will slowly reintroduce the coins back in the currency population and empty that box out.  The foreign coins and bills will go to the donation box the next time I'm at a museum.  Go Me.  

These Eyes have seen a lot of things

Since writing about the clinical trial for eye drops, I've made 3 more visits, the 9th one this morning.  It was probably the shortest I've ever been there.  My blood pressure was better than last time because I've gotten a little exercise in.  My diary/log sheet didn't have the usual re-writes since I took my time filling it out over the last six weeks.

The bad news is that I was hoping to get some lunch at Mr Rusty's Real Taste of Chicago.  It's about a 20-minute drive from the clinic, so I figured I'd be first in line.  Unfortunately, they changed their hours and didn't open until 10:30 am.  I couldn't wait another half hour, plus the wait time for food, so I headed home.  

So I just have three more visits to go.  I've earned $1175 but won't get paid until the end of the trail.  I'm hoping there isn't some loophole or something I've missed that will allow them to not pay me.  And I'd be happy if something happened like a job or relocation back to Chicagoland would make me have to quit the trial but with only three more to go, I think it will happen as planned.

Jerk in the truck made it hard to take this photo

The kids are finished with 4th grade next Friday.  The weekend after Memorial Day we are headed to Michigan for a high school graduation/big celebration which I am not looking forward to.  I do not like how the Adamas treat me in my own home, it's gonna suck even more on their terf.

On the return trip, we will swing through Chicago to check on my mom.  She isn't doing well and actually had a fall the other week.  We cannot manage her from here and she won't move down here.  Not that we have the space for her.  IF she would just sell her house, we could find a way to buy a better home in Chicago and take care of her.  

Cleaning Out My Closets

Every now and again,  I get a flyer about a roadshow where they will evaluate your old coins.  They will also look at comics, memorabilia and jewelry, specifically gold and silver.

I finally got my act together enough to go out there with my box of coins and a few other things I hoped they take off my hands.  I had no delusion that I owned anything of five-figure, four-figure or even three-figure value.  I just wanted to put my mind to ease that I wasn't putting a quarter back in circulation that might be worth a dollar.

It was a very pleasant experience.  I thought it would be a conference style format and you had to go to different booths, but instead it's two guys in a hotel's "We-Office" facility and you have a one-on-one discussion.  Along with my coins, I had brought some comics, some memorabilia and jewelry.  The only stuff that was worth his wild were some coins and some jewelry.

And that's fine. They have to make money and they likely know what they can sell for just a little bit more and what won't move.  

I left with a check for $225.  half was from some coins, specifically some coins the local coin shop didn't even bother taking out of the bag when I went there a few months ago.  The rest was for a silver bracelet I got in Mexico in 1994, a 10K gold ring and a couple of other items.  I actually took back two rings that weren't worth much but I thought my kids could enjoy.

But the best part is that now I am free to put the rest of the money back in circulation.  I've carted those boxes around from apartment to apartment to condo to house to house.  Why?  And I can pitch all that other stuff too.  

While I was there I was able to talk to Ronnie about his industry.   We talked about how those stories of someone finding a rare coin worth XXX money makes things harder for his industry because that is such a rare, rare event.  But people like my mom hoard things because they believe it will be worth more some day.

he said he has been doing this for almost a decade now.  it tickles my heart that someone could find something that they enjoy and pays the rent as an alternative to the florescent lighting of Corporate America Hell.  While I only spent less than an hour with this guy, he seemed intelligent, knowledgeable and could probably flourish in many other industries.  But he gets to do something he genuinely seems to enjoy.  

Life in the South part 29

Reptiles: Hey, you've got A/C and Netflix. Can I come in?

Cats:  Sorry you weren't on the E-vite.

Me: How did the lizard get into the house in the first place?

Kids:  That's a mystery that will never be solved.

I posted the above on the Book of Faces, although this happened a few days ago.  I suspect the poor creature got into our bathroom because we currently have a hole in our shower where some tile has fallen off.

Our cats probably had a field day tormenting and then finally, perhaps accidentally, killing this guy.  

In other news, last night we had a Tornado Warning around 1 am.  Nightingale woke us up, and we put a mattress from the kids loft into what amounts to a hallway between the bedrooms and bathroom until it passed.  

Usually, these warnings and events are all NothingBurgers, but it's better to be safe than sorry.  It seems we are experiencing a lot of weather conditions down here.  More snow.  More cold.  and More Tornado warnings than in past decades.  But Climate Change is not real, right?  /end sarcasm font.  

Down to Four Bucks a Day Now

 I thought it would be good to update the Cost per Day for the Drama Playset.  We have now owned the Drama Playset since January 14, 2022.  

Conservative Estimate:  I'm assuming that 4 kids using the playset most days equals one kid using it daily.  Also, we have had an additional kid most of the year.

So using the time and date duration calculator to figure the time between January 14, 2022, when it finally arrived, and today this year, I get 1172 days.  

that works out to $6000/1172 = $5.92 per use.

Slightly Optimistic Estimate:  If we get more optimistic, then we can assume 4 kids using the playset most days equals two kids using it every day.

That works out to $6000/1172/2 = $2.56 per use.

If we take the average of these two values, we get the more like CPU of $3.84.

So as we have owned this for 3 years and some change, it costs $4 to keep my kids entertained and off their iPads.

Same as Always

In the month of February two recruiters reached out to me about contract positions at Law Firm A and B.  Recruiter A used the customary safe language of no promises but probably 3-6 months and might extend, with a slim possibility of going to FTE (Full-time Employment).

Recruiter B said the role would convert to FTE if things looked like a good fit.  This is the new normal because it's easier to offboard a contractor than a FTE.

There were 3 possibilities:  1) they both make offers and I have to choose; 2) only one makes an offer and it's pretty academic.  3) neither make an offer and I'm back to square one.

In the interest of not extending the suspense, neither made an offer, deciding to go with that person I always lose out to: Mr. Stronger Candidate.

Law Firm A just had me do one interview with the director I'd be working for and I recognized her name from when I was a support engineer at the No-Name Software Company.  I thought we had a good interview, certainly better than many of the ones I've had over the years.  Truthfully, I hoped she'd hire me and even if it only lasted 6 months it would 1) get me back in the game and 2) bring in some sorely needed income.

Law Firm B was a different story.  The first guy I interviewed with wanted, if hired, me to start FTE from the get-go.  Naturally, I said I would but this was not something I was prepared for during the interview.. it was quite a surprise.  The feedback was that he felt I'd be a good fit for the team, but let's see how the technical goes.

One issue was like always, they needed me to live in a particular state where they have an office.  And guess what, Tennessee would qualify!  All I would have to do was get an apartment and work from there.

But they still tried to find someone else.  I got a call from a 3rd recruiter for the same role!

The timeline gets fuzzy but eventually, Law Firm B schedules three back-to-back-back 30-minute interviews with some people.  Someone from the business side, a guy I actually interviewed with last year (who swears he was advocating for me then and now), and a director.  

In the end, they decided to go with someone else.  The good thing about this experience was the recruiters didn't abandon me, they were in relatively constant communication all along and even tried to help coach me.

The bad thing is that this shouldn't have taken as long as it did.  I can see mulling it over for a day or two but to make a candidate wait a week and then a weekend just to tell him that you're going in another direction is just cruel and insensitive.  

Winter Beard

 As it happened, we got our kids haircuts at the beginning of the year.  The place we go to has a punch card for adults and my was full, so I got my hair cut too.  But that day (January 4th I do believe) kicked off an experiment.  I decided to grow a beard. 

I've always had Weird Beard.. In my 20s, if I shaved on Monday, I would not get 5 o’clock shadow until about noon on Thursday.  Later in my 30s, the stubble showed up sooner, but it was still like nothing, nothing, nothing, then boom: 5 o’clock shadow that looked like I hadn’t shaved in a week.

I never minded because I’m not a beard, mustache, or goatee person.  And while the stubble grows faster as I have accumulated more spins around the sun, it still took probably longer than one would expect.  it was a good two weeks before anyone really noticed.  It was a good month and a half before the pepper was more noticeable than the salt in the salt and pepper beard.

Most people, including Nightingale liked it. In fact a lot of people who said they liked it also asked if Nightingale liked it.  There is one Friend-From-High-School who was against it but this is more about a relatively recent spat we've had on the Book of Faces and her opinion has no currency.

I personally didn't really like it.  it's itchy, scratch and I have to trim it to keep from looking like a cooter.  I was only gonna keep the beard until middle of February but I extended it to the middle of March.  I trimmed most of it off this week and will eventually get around to being clean shaven again, probably when Spring officially starts.

I might do Winter Beard next year but maybe not.