(Are they high, Clarice?)
You will have to please pardon the Steel Magnolias paraphrasing!
Per our normal weekend routine, Mark and I scoured the estate sale listings for the St. Louis area using these 2 sites:
www.estatesales.net
and
http://gsalr.com/garage-sales-st-louis-mo.html .
Mark's work hours currently do not allow us to have a 'normal weekend' together, so we had to improvise. His weekend is Friday - Saturday, instead of Saturday - Sunday. Most of the functions (the art fairs, Japanese and Greek Fests, Gay Pride Fest, and many more) run the normal weekend, Saturday and Sunday. We can attend Saturdays together, but if I want to go on Sundays, I often go by myself (which isn't a bad thing entirely, and that is another blog for another day!)
If I haven't done so earlier in the week, by Thursday night, I scout those 2 websites, and plot out any estate sales that might have items of interest that I didn't know I couldn't live without until I saw them listed for sale! This weekend was no exception. At an increasing rate, more and more estate sales are being listed for Fri - Sun, instead of Sat - Sun, to include one more day in the sale.
We always arrive at the estate sale at least 15 minutes early, to get a number (which allows us to get in the door of the sale at a certain point in the waiting line), and to be standing outside the house waiting for the doors to open. We are always within the first 20 people in the house, and usually the first group they let in the doors.
Also occurring at an increasing rate is unadvertised pre-sales. We often arrive at an estate sale, and the large ticket items are already marked "Sold". How can this be, when we're the first people in the house, and often the first customers in any certain room of the house? The answer is simple: The individuals in charge of running a particular sale will often allow antique dealers, resale shops, etc., in before the advertised sale date, to make pre-sales. I would have nothing negative to say about this practice IF they remove the pictures of the pre-sold items from the websites (www.estatesales.net , etc) so the public isn't misled into thinking these items are still available. Most of the regular estate sale shoppers find one or two items in the pictures of the estate sale listing that they are interested in, and that is the reason they drove to any one particular estate sale. If the item in the picture is no longer available, there is no other reason for the shopper to come to this estate sale, when he / she could have attended another sale with items present in which the shopper is interested.
Anywho.... Mark and I arrive at this estate sale:
3906 Roundtable Ct.
Saint Louis, MO 63129
which is being held by this company:
Midas Touch Estate Sales
703 Dutch Mill Drive
Ballwin, MO 63011
One of the morals of this beloved story is "If you jack me up, I will not hesitate to bust you out using whatever means I find necessary, and any venues that I have available to me!"
The story continues....
So, we arrive at this sale.
Actually, I am looking for an acoustic piano to complete my musical instrument collection. Even though digital pianos are phenomenal, and I have several of them, I am seeking an acoustic piano to aid my daily 2 hour practice sessions. An acoustic piano has elements associated with it (the touch / feel, sound, etc) that a digital piano can 'come close to reproducing', but when it really comes down to it, there is no substitute for an acoustic piano. If I play for a nursing home, school, church or other function, and they have an acoustic piano (and I am accustomed to playing even the best digital piano), it feels like you're wearing somebody else's shoes. It will work, but not the best feeling you can have in the world, and not the best job you can do at the moment.
This digital piano (manufactured in 1998) is available for sale:
I know I can't be the only person sitting out here on this limb, but I know very well that the internet is an affordable, easy-to-use resource for information that is available to virtually anyone. If you can afford today's cable TV, a cell phone, or a couple meals at a restaurant a month, then you can afford to use the internet as it was originally intended - for informational purposes. The only excuse to not use this resource is either some lame attempt at gaining control over the people in your corner of the world (Another subject for another blog), or pure laziness. Plain and simple - and nothing more to it.
Before we attended this sale, I did a very quick internet search. You can do the same search using Bing, Alta Vista, Dogpile, Webcrawler, Google, Yahoo, or any other web search engine of your choice.
The *first* page of search results returned this website:
http://www.mypianofriends.com/i-am-looking-at-buying-a-roland-kr-75.-is-it-worth-1000-dol...-186454.html
Please find on that website the following paragraph (In reference to the Roland KR-75 digital piano listed in the ad for the estate sale):
"It is worth $1000, only if the original owner has already had the piano serviced to replace the known-issue with the keys splitting. I purchased one recently for $1100. The piano looked and sounded great on the exterior, and basically IS in great shape, except when one key went bad, upon repair we learned that all of the keys are split and this is a known issue. Roland would have repaired it at no cost for the original owner with the original proof of purchase, but we would have to pay full-price even though it is a known major defect.
If that hasn't been done, then I would suggest you get the original owner to do so before buying it, or have them reduce $500 to $600 off of the price because that is what it will cost you to repair the keys once the problem surfaces."
A second website says, "These keyboards were manufactured in 1998. That is 13 years ago. Since these keyboards are basically computers with piano keys attached, how much would you pay for a personal computer that is 13 years old? The answer: Little to nothing. Considering the known issues with the keys on these instrument (They will have to be replaced at your own cost), and the fact that this 'computer' is 13 years old, they are worth little to nothing. I certainly would not pay more than $300 for this instrument."
Michael speaking: "These Roland keyboards have the old 3.5" floppy disk drives in them. They ARE MIDI compatible, but have no other way of hooking up to your computer other than through an antiquated system that today's computers no longer supports. Knowing what I now know, and all things considered, if I tested the piano (and I did!), and all keys are playing as expected at this point (And they are!), I still would pay no more than $200 for this instrument, and even in that case, I wouldn't admit how much I payed to another person!"
How much are they asking for it, you ask? $2,500! Yes, $2,500! Even on 'half-price day' - the last day of the sale - the price would be $1,250, which is still FIVE TIMES more than the maximum price of this keyboard should be. I would shoot somebody at close range, and directly in the forehead if they paid $2,500, $1,250 and maybe even $250 for this piano! To quote Franken-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", when he killed Meat Loaf in the walk in freezer (dusting his hands off), "What? It was a mercy killing, really!"
I know it is a free, enterprising country, and / or / but, folks need get off their lazy duffs, and do some homework before presenting themselves to the public. Laziness (Sloth!) is not in the "Top 10" (Commandments), but it IS listed in the "Sub 7" (Deadly sins!) Ignorance is no excuse.
The "Way over priced old digital piano" was strike one.
I was still doodling around with this piano when Mark made a quick sweep through the house. He was interested in these chairs, to go with our retro home:
Please remember - we were in the first group allowed in the house to shop when they opened the doors.
As Mark relayed the story to me, these chairs had tags on them marked "Sold". How is this possible that we were the first people in the house, and items were already sold? These unscrupulous people held an unannounced pre-sale, and left the pictures of the merchandise that had been pre-sold on the website. These chairs were the **ONLY** reason Mark wanted to go to this sale.
The moral of this story is that this sale was a general bust, from all points of view. These lazy-assed people didn't do their homework before trying to seriously rob people by overpricing virtual junk AND they had an unannounced pre-sale.
Incidentally, the other sale that we went to this weekend also had items marked "Sold" due to a presale. HOWEVER, the proprietors did say on the website that they intended to sell antiques and large items on a pre-sale basis to those who are interested. OK. Fair Game. We were warned, and that is the way it should be listed.
There are many people who run these estate sales that are as fair and square as they can be. The same can not be said for EVERYBODY running these sales. There are some individuals who will not hesitate to bring out their shady side.
The split second that Mark saw the "SOLD" sign on these chairs, he came up to me and said, "OK, I'm ready to go (leave the sale). They had an unannounced pre-sale.", and he headed for the door. I didn't get past the first room of the house, and I followed him out the door.
We left the estate sale arena for the day, and I went to the Guitar Center to buy cables for some of my amps in my music room, and our weekly dietary splurge was at Haveli Indian Restaurant on Page Avenue:
http://havelistl.com/
and
http://havelistl.com/special_event.pdf
After a few plates of soul-satisfying Indian food
(and my Galub Jamun! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulab_jamun),
we went to the Indian Bazaar just a few blocks down the street, owned by the same lady that owns the restaurant. This is an Indian-Pakistani grocery and supply store. I bought another box of Garam Masala - a certain spice mix used regularly in Indian cooking. I use this spice several times a week in my daily lunches.
Yes, dear readers. I got stiffed by some crooked people of this country, but I turned to the many bright colors, people and tastes of the rest of this world to take me to another place for a welcome reprieve.
My Indians / Pakistani / Syrians - and many other nationalities - LOVE ME!
(and Midas Touch Estate Sales from the St. Louis area will screw you like there is no tomorrow, but depending on your point of view, that may or may not be a bad thing!
I know my readers are 'smarter than the average bear', and they have already figured out that I am sending a copy of this post to Midas Touch Estate Sales.
- Michael
You will have to please pardon the Steel Magnolias paraphrasing!
Per our normal weekend routine, Mark and I scoured the estate sale listings for the St. Louis area using these 2 sites:
www.estatesales.net
and
http://gsalr.com/garage-sales-st-louis-mo.html .
Mark's work hours currently do not allow us to have a 'normal weekend' together, so we had to improvise. His weekend is Friday - Saturday, instead of Saturday - Sunday. Most of the functions (the art fairs, Japanese and Greek Fests, Gay Pride Fest, and many more) run the normal weekend, Saturday and Sunday. We can attend Saturdays together, but if I want to go on Sundays, I often go by myself (which isn't a bad thing entirely, and that is another blog for another day!)
If I haven't done so earlier in the week, by Thursday night, I scout those 2 websites, and plot out any estate sales that might have items of interest that I didn't know I couldn't live without until I saw them listed for sale! This weekend was no exception. At an increasing rate, more and more estate sales are being listed for Fri - Sun, instead of Sat - Sun, to include one more day in the sale.
We always arrive at the estate sale at least 15 minutes early, to get a number (which allows us to get in the door of the sale at a certain point in the waiting line), and to be standing outside the house waiting for the doors to open. We are always within the first 20 people in the house, and usually the first group they let in the doors.
Also occurring at an increasing rate is unadvertised pre-sales. We often arrive at an estate sale, and the large ticket items are already marked "Sold". How can this be, when we're the first people in the house, and often the first customers in any certain room of the house? The answer is simple: The individuals in charge of running a particular sale will often allow antique dealers, resale shops, etc., in before the advertised sale date, to make pre-sales. I would have nothing negative to say about this practice IF they remove the pictures of the pre-sold items from the websites (www.estatesales.net , etc) so the public isn't misled into thinking these items are still available. Most of the regular estate sale shoppers find one or two items in the pictures of the estate sale listing that they are interested in, and that is the reason they drove to any one particular estate sale. If the item in the picture is no longer available, there is no other reason for the shopper to come to this estate sale, when he / she could have attended another sale with items present in which the shopper is interested.
Anywho.... Mark and I arrive at this estate sale:
3906 Roundtable Ct.
Saint Louis, MO 63129
which is being held by this company:
Midas Touch Estate Sales
703 Dutch Mill Drive
Ballwin, MO 63011
One of the morals of this beloved story is "If you jack me up, I will not hesitate to bust you out using whatever means I find necessary, and any venues that I have available to me!"
The story continues....
So, we arrive at this sale.
Actually, I am looking for an acoustic piano to complete my musical instrument collection. Even though digital pianos are phenomenal, and I have several of them, I am seeking an acoustic piano to aid my daily 2 hour practice sessions. An acoustic piano has elements associated with it (the touch / feel, sound, etc) that a digital piano can 'come close to reproducing', but when it really comes down to it, there is no substitute for an acoustic piano. If I play for a nursing home, school, church or other function, and they have an acoustic piano (and I am accustomed to playing even the best digital piano), it feels like you're wearing somebody else's shoes. It will work, but not the best feeling you can have in the world, and not the best job you can do at the moment.
This digital piano (manufactured in 1998) is available for sale:
I know I can't be the only person sitting out here on this limb, but I know very well that the internet is an affordable, easy-to-use resource for information that is available to virtually anyone. If you can afford today's cable TV, a cell phone, or a couple meals at a restaurant a month, then you can afford to use the internet as it was originally intended - for informational purposes. The only excuse to not use this resource is either some lame attempt at gaining control over the people in your corner of the world (Another subject for another blog), or pure laziness. Plain and simple - and nothing more to it.
Before we attended this sale, I did a very quick internet search. You can do the same search using Bing, Alta Vista, Dogpile, Webcrawler, Google, Yahoo, or any other web search engine of your choice.
The *first* page of search results returned this website:
http://www.mypianofriends.com/i-am-looking-at-buying-a-roland-kr-75.-is-it-worth-1000-dol...-186454.html
Please find on that website the following paragraph (In reference to the Roland KR-75 digital piano listed in the ad for the estate sale):
"It is worth $1000, only if the original owner has already had the piano serviced to replace the known-issue with the keys splitting. I purchased one recently for $1100. The piano looked and sounded great on the exterior, and basically IS in great shape, except when one key went bad, upon repair we learned that all of the keys are split and this is a known issue. Roland would have repaired it at no cost for the original owner with the original proof of purchase, but we would have to pay full-price even though it is a known major defect.
If that hasn't been done, then I would suggest you get the original owner to do so before buying it, or have them reduce $500 to $600 off of the price because that is what it will cost you to repair the keys once the problem surfaces."
A second website says, "These keyboards were manufactured in 1998. That is 13 years ago. Since these keyboards are basically computers with piano keys attached, how much would you pay for a personal computer that is 13 years old? The answer: Little to nothing. Considering the known issues with the keys on these instrument (They will have to be replaced at your own cost), and the fact that this 'computer' is 13 years old, they are worth little to nothing. I certainly would not pay more than $300 for this instrument."
Michael speaking: "These Roland keyboards have the old 3.5" floppy disk drives in them. They ARE MIDI compatible, but have no other way of hooking up to your computer other than through an antiquated system that today's computers no longer supports. Knowing what I now know, and all things considered, if I tested the piano (and I did!), and all keys are playing as expected at this point (And they are!), I still would pay no more than $200 for this instrument, and even in that case, I wouldn't admit how much I payed to another person!"
How much are they asking for it, you ask? $2,500! Yes, $2,500! Even on 'half-price day' - the last day of the sale - the price would be $1,250, which is still FIVE TIMES more than the maximum price of this keyboard should be. I would shoot somebody at close range, and directly in the forehead if they paid $2,500, $1,250 and maybe even $250 for this piano! To quote Franken-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", when he killed Meat Loaf in the walk in freezer (dusting his hands off), "What? It was a mercy killing, really!"
I know it is a free, enterprising country, and / or / but, folks need get off their lazy duffs, and do some homework before presenting themselves to the public. Laziness (Sloth!) is not in the "Top 10" (Commandments), but it IS listed in the "Sub 7" (Deadly sins!) Ignorance is no excuse.
The "Way over priced old digital piano" was strike one.
I was still doodling around with this piano when Mark made a quick sweep through the house. He was interested in these chairs, to go with our retro home:
Please remember - we were in the first group allowed in the house to shop when they opened the doors.
As Mark relayed the story to me, these chairs had tags on them marked "Sold". How is this possible that we were the first people in the house, and items were already sold? These unscrupulous people held an unannounced pre-sale, and left the pictures of the merchandise that had been pre-sold on the website. These chairs were the **ONLY** reason Mark wanted to go to this sale.
The moral of this story is that this sale was a general bust, from all points of view. These lazy-assed people didn't do their homework before trying to seriously rob people by overpricing virtual junk AND they had an unannounced pre-sale.
Incidentally, the other sale that we went to this weekend also had items marked "Sold" due to a presale. HOWEVER, the proprietors did say on the website that they intended to sell antiques and large items on a pre-sale basis to those who are interested. OK. Fair Game. We were warned, and that is the way it should be listed.
There are many people who run these estate sales that are as fair and square as they can be. The same can not be said for EVERYBODY running these sales. There are some individuals who will not hesitate to bring out their shady side.
The split second that Mark saw the "SOLD" sign on these chairs, he came up to me and said, "OK, I'm ready to go (leave the sale). They had an unannounced pre-sale.", and he headed for the door. I didn't get past the first room of the house, and I followed him out the door.
We left the estate sale arena for the day, and I went to the Guitar Center to buy cables for some of my amps in my music room, and our weekly dietary splurge was at Haveli Indian Restaurant on Page Avenue:
http://havelistl.com/
and
http://havelistl.com/special_event.pdf
After a few plates of soul-satisfying Indian food
(and my Galub Jamun! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulab_jamun),
we went to the Indian Bazaar just a few blocks down the street, owned by the same lady that owns the restaurant. This is an Indian-Pakistani grocery and supply store. I bought another box of Garam Masala - a certain spice mix used regularly in Indian cooking. I use this spice several times a week in my daily lunches.
Yes, dear readers. I got stiffed by some crooked people of this country, but I turned to the many bright colors, people and tastes of the rest of this world to take me to another place for a welcome reprieve.
My Indians / Pakistani / Syrians - and many other nationalities - LOVE ME!
(and Midas Touch Estate Sales from the St. Louis area will screw you like there is no tomorrow, but depending on your point of view, that may or may not be a bad thing!
I know my readers are 'smarter than the average bear', and they have already figured out that I am sending a copy of this post to Midas Touch Estate Sales.
- Michael
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