I Love and Hate Craigslist

Did you ever post anything in the "freebie" adds in your local news paper? I seem to remember doing that but couldn't tell you what I sold. I have a love hate relationship with the current, cyber version of the Freebie adds. Craigslist. 

What I love. 1) It's FREE! As my dad says... "if it's free, it's for me". 2) You can find just about anything on it. 3) Craigslist allows you to search local and far away (although purchasing far away can be difficult). 4) You get a glimpse into the lives of a very wide spectrum of people through their adds/answers.

What I hate. 1)Flakes! Why people answer adds or post adds and then disappear still boggles my mind. 2) Bartering/Low-ballers/Tire Kickers. No I won't trade my scooter for your old hospital urinals and no I won't take payments unless you want to pick up the scooter after you made the last one. 3)You get a glimpse into the lives of a very wide spectrum of people through their adds/answers (no that was not a typo). 

I go through phases of selling things on CL. Now is one of them. I've got a couple of scoots for sale (Vespa  Honda), and of course I have already experienced, the flake, and the low-baller. But pleasantly, I have also come across the genuinely interested college kid trying to build an electric scooter, the person who realized they were getting in over their head and very politely declined to purchase, and a genuine Italian man who wants to purchase my cherished Italian scooter.

I have never posted anything other than in "For Sale" but I do like to peruse the other postings of rants, and such. Here are some great posts from the "Best Of Craigslist" 

Tips for selling cars.  

$50 per hour job!  

Political Justice

Honest Trade

Free Soap

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital

M*A*S*H

Although I can't say I remember watching original episodes of MASH, I can remember hearing my dad laughing out loud in the family room while watching, as I lay in my bed trying to go to sleep in our first family home in Vacaville. I discovered the show for myself in 2003 while I was living with my Sister and Brother In-Law during Paramedic school.

I think the show is brilliant, and I know there are plenty of others out there who agree with me, but maybe not many my age. It's got potty humor, intellectual humor, social commentary, political commentary, discussions about faith and genuine human emotions. MASH tackled topics like homosexuals in the military way before "don't ask don't tell". Not to mention that this is still a topic that is unresolved in modern day discussions. So now that I've spewed my affection for this oldie but goodie, here are some fun facts about the show...

-MASH ran for 11 seasons from 1972-1982 (251 episodes)

-MASH was based on a movie by the same name, based on a book with the same name (the movie is good too. I haven't read the book)

-The MASH finale (Goodbye, Farewell and Amen) was the most watched primetime telecast in of all time (50.15 million households,)

-Harry Morgan (Col. Potter) made his first appearance on the show as the insane General Bartford Hamilton Steele. A one time roll of a character not related to the one he would play for the next 8 seasons. MASH often reused actors for multiple/unrelated roles. It can be confusing if you watch them in sequence

-Gary Burghoff (radar O-Reilly) was the only actor to star in the movie and TV series (two other actors from the movie made appearances, but did not have long term roles)

-In the Movie and the TV series there was an African American character named "spear chucker" ! How un-PC can you get?

-Klinger, Hawkeye, and BJ all actually served in the military. Jamie Farr (Klinger) wears his actual dog tags in the show. BJ was a Marine and Hawk and Max served in the Army in... you guessed it, Korea!

-Hawkeye was the nick name of Benjamin Franklin Pierce which he claims was given to him by his father after reading the book, The Last Of The Mohicans.

-There were two spinoffs of MASH. W*A*L*T*E*R which focused on Radar returning home and joining a police department, and  AfterMASH which featured a few of the characters post-war in a midwestern hospital.

-The reaction that Radar gave when finding out that Henry Blake died was real! The producers never told him about the death of the character until moments before shooting the scene where radar gets the bad news (one of the saddest scenes in the entire series).

-MASH was the first prime time show to use the term "son of a bitch" on the air

MASH still runs on quite a few channels everyday. Set your TiVo or DVR and check out a few episodes. And don't worry... it's OK to laugh out loud.

B

Here's the straight poop!

As this is my blog, I would like to get a few things clear. Not only are these the rules for the blog (which really only applies to me as I am producing it) but also general guidelines by which I live. Keep these in mind...

 

1. The english language is insane and thus correct spelling is not required nor expected. If you get confused as to what I am saying "just sound it out!" (this also goes for punctuation and grammar) 

2. Swearing is acceptable, but only as "bad words" can be accurate descriptors. It is probably always better to not swear, and most of the time swearing is not a very creative way of expressing your self, but really... curse words are just words after all.

3. Making a point for making a points purpose is useless. If something does not really matter to you, but would make you cool for saying it, you should keep your mouth shut. Don't say it if you don't really mean it.

4. When ever possible, use the metric system. Lets face it, millimeters, centimeters, meters and kilometers make a lot more sense than inches, feet, yards and miles. Plus all those crazy Italian two wheels I've got came completely in metric. 

5. Old stuff is generally better. Better than what? Who knows? I'm probably not old enough to say this but.... they don't make things like they used to! 

6. Technology is great! What ever I know I just wrote rule #5 but I like tech stuff too.

7. There are no stupid questions, just stupid people. This one is not really true. There ARE stupid questions AND stupid people, and we all are guilty of having asked them and been them at some time.

8. Art is the mastery of a medium that evokes an emotional response. (someone else said this and it made a lot of sense to me)

9. Don't be scared to be idealistic. If there is nothing to strive for, why step forward at all.

10. Try to think before you type. I find that typing is good for this where as things sometimes fly out of my mouth as I try to grab them and stuff them back in. Typing always offers the opportunity to hit the delete button. Be smart... use the button every now and then

I think that those are the basic parameters in which I will work and you should interpret. I'll probably add to the list but this is a good start. You don't need to sign a form stating you recieved the rules, but know that you have been warned.

B

As if I don't have enough going on...

... here goes one more thing! The idea of having a blog has been appealing for a while, but oddly enough (or not really oddly at all) I felt a bit unfocused or inspired as to what my blog would be about. Don't fret! I've got lots I'd like to say and tell people about, but there never seemed to be a great common thread. So I'll use the "I don't have a gimmick," as my.... well you get the picture. So expect to read about the following (but not limited to nor required),

Church, Politics, Sports (now that I've got the big three work no-no's covered) Vintage Scooters, Booze, Family, Dirt (more specifically the things that grow in it), Food, Old Stuff (vintage if you must), Music, Tech Junk, Fire Department Life, Education and what ever else I think you might enjoy.

Welcome!

B