How would you feel about misplacing $39,000? Read me today, I'll tell you it just happened, or rather, it just got discovered that it happened. Plus, I may have commissioned myself a once-in-a-lifetime chance to write non-fiction book on a totally unique theme. Then I’d be famous and you’d have to pay to be reading this.
Now, I’m not going to show you the picture almost worth a fortune. Instead you get Burt Reynolds. Quit yer whining, you are lucky to get that. Be nice and I may show you more.
A few people have asked me why I have decided to repair the butane tank supply for my galley stove. I understand that I could get an electric [stove], but they don’t understand that I will never forget that three months I went without power after Hurricane Wilma in 2005/06. You cannot imagine the hardships -- and I was ready for it. Others were lined up half a day for a lousy bag of ice, although some of their reasons for doing so were less than popular.No, I do not forgive FPL, despite their contention that they were heroes. I walked around the entire block and noticed that there were no wires down, and that all the surrounding blocks had power after a week. There was a single wire hanging low, but that could have been “fixed” with a pair of cutters. In the end, one repair truck showed up and the power was restored in an hour. No, forgiveness is not an option. And unless you have ever gone without electric for 90 days, I dismiss your opinion on the matter.
After failing to get the “dancing CD” to do just that, I headed over to Howard’s and replaced his unit. This is the CD that repeatedly pops the tray open for no good reason, hence “dancing”. During one of the waits while testing the unit (some computers detect a replaced CD as a major upgrade), Howard asked about his HDTV. While I don’t know much on that, I also know that you simply cannot start a major new industry in the US of A with a workforce that is required to think; they don’t exist here any more. Therefore, I took a close look at this fancy TV.
First of all, it lacks the array of antenna jacks and inputs found on most such equipment. Look on the back of a DVD player and count the number of outputs. It’s hardly surprising nobody can afford to build them locally any more. Well, Howard’s HDTV had one F-stub on the back, and a non-functional pair of RCAs on the front. They had a function, which was to overdub any VHS being recorded, but they were not regular input jacks. No way to hook this expensive TV to a DVD player. Let’s hear it for Panasonic!
There were some chores at the wig store, mostly email and putting together promo material. It was during this process I noticed a signed Elvis picture on the wall behind a display stand. Upon close inspection, it did not even have a glass in the frame. I was stunned, and immediately showed Ruth that worse pictures were going to auction with reserve bids of $8,000. This means I had to check out the Beatles picture. The signatures were on a separate paper, the picture itself shows Ruth working on their hair.
I’ll digress for a bit. There are at least 250 pictures of celebrities on the shop walls. The ones I can name include Danny Thomas, Bob Hope, Richard Nixon and Burt Reynolds and there are dozens of others I recognize. It is a gold mine of autographs and personal history. Ruth, of course, has been reminded of this all along, but the $8 thou got her attention. I bluntly pointed out that publishing was immortality, where not publishing was a loss to the world. She is aware that I write and I gave her a sample. She offered 10%.
There are other photos besides hers; she is the end of eight generations of wig-makers. On the back wall are three long rows of what I took to be dancers. I walk past it on my way out every time. I was only partially right. These were the original strippers of the era. She never met Gypsy Rose Lee, but Ruth knew all the contenders, including one who reputedly pranced down main street in Havana, Cuba, wearing a cellophane raincoat. I’ve told her the second priority is to scan all those pictures and store them safely, replacing the display with copies. Then, to write the story.
The Beatles’ signatures were an old-style photocopy. I asked Ruth what happened to the original. It had been moved and misfiled. I would volunteer to go through the hundreds of thousands of documents in that shop to find it. No, the copy was not worth fifty cents. I priced what original Beatles autographed prints were getting in London. By now, you’ve figured out that amounts to $39,000.
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