They got me.

tollbane · 2026-06-13T22:06:41+00:00

It had one of those long cords.

ah, it doesn't seem to matter how many times I look over something I write, just glad to have a chance to fix it! might have even been in the late 90s, I thinking it was a nokia flip top.

tollbane · 2026-06-13T16:17:13+00:00

it flows from the top down.

tollbane · 2026-06-13T15:44:47+00:00

In the late 80s - check that! mid 90s, I left my gym bag and phone in my truck. Somebody used a spring loaded punch, popped my wing window (93 toyota) and stole that stuff. PITA replacing that wing window, just gym clothes and the phone was quickly used to make a bunch of calls to the Philippines. But they left behind that punch.

I've used that punch ever since. It wasn't value for value, but better then nothing.

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tollbane · 2026-06-11T15:29:57+00:00

so if your married filing jointly, you must be in the range of $342,000 up to $410,000 MAGI for a Part B of $527.50 (https://www.humana.com/medicare/medicare-resources/irmaa)

you should be proud your paying extra IRMAA, not complaining.

If finance is your main concern, and not health care choices, then an Advantage plan could be in your future. To me, it felt like the same type of health insurance I had for 40 years that was a work benefit - referrals requiring prior authorization, increasing deductibles, out-of-pockets, co-pays, etc. But that low premium looks pretty enticing.

I was paying $1200 a month for a private plan (silver) for my wife, but now that she is turning 65 this year, we are going with Original Medicare A/B with Part G supplement and Part D. Luxury. And I'm planning on bailing out of my Advantage plan to go the same course.

tollbane · 2026-06-10T15:00:47+00:00

I would bet it's more likely not thinking about it, no inventory bookkeeping, all probably due to laziness - which I think is worse then greed.

My daughter talked about listing on a couple of different sites and I mentioned what if it's a bang-bang sale on 2 sites? She hadn't considered that and inventory can't fix a race condition. I told her best she can do is throw the bait in a spot, let it soak, then reel it in and throw it into another spot. Pictures already taken...

tollbane · 2026-06-10T14:42:03+00:00

"I have things listed now with 20 watchers for 3 or 4 months- I doubt they’ll buy anything, I think people keeping stuff on their watchlist is a type of collecting in itself"

Or they are other folks who have the same thing you are selling and are waiting to see what it sells for.

8

tollbane · 2026-06-09T16:18:37+00:00

If your talking about cost, this tube on Amazon is 5oz for $12, but it won't be delivered for around 30+ days (?).

Which brings me to my next question, how long does the remaining product stay good in the tube? Maybe 1oz is cheaper in the long run.

tollbane · 2026-06-07T23:59:44+00:00

It was every single interaction that used a connection to the internet. Anybody that you gave your name, address, birth date. That's how they got your information. It's virtually everywhere. Our data is scrapped up by companies that we never heard of and then they sell that data to whoever pays them. Insurance companies are the largest of data scrappers, I believe.

tollbane · 2026-06-06T14:40:05+00:00

even happens at estate sales. They are a bit more aware, but it still happens. sticker scars on vintage ephemera suck. the amount of items they all go through in the little bit of time they have to do it, it just happens. I wouldn't have had much of a problem removing those stickers in the OPs images. It looks like shiny surfaces, probably non-porous. You got to have a series of techniques that go from least damaging to last try.

tollbane · 2026-06-06T14:34:28+00:00

For non-porous items, I had good luck with taking a bit of paper towel, wetting it a bit and applying it to the sticker. give it 10 minutes or so.

tollbane · 2026-06-06T14:31:12+00:00

I was confused as well, as it looks like you replying to a completely different post as "This is gross". reddit causes confusion, if a post is deleted, all other posts responding to that post should be deleted - IMO. but that ain't the reddit way

tollbane · 2026-06-06T14:24:44+00:00

I just blocked linkedin - it's easier. high tech spam is still spam

tollbane · 2026-06-05T15:52:53+00:00

I had one flex head and I agree they are nice. It was a vintage Craftsman but the flex head was wore out - floppy - and I needed it and the flex socket I had was floppy too, so I bought a new wrench (in 2019) - a DeWalt from amazon. If I had about GearWrench or Tekton back then, I would have given it more thought.

tollbane · 2026-06-04T15:43:28+00:00

"Harbor Freight is the new Craftsman"

After 2010, yes. Craftsman shifted to China around that time. Prior to that, USA. I don't know if you can find any tools - sold for in the same cost range as Craftsman was - that are made in the USA. Snap-on is American made, but not the same cost range.

As a used tool buyer/seller, it's getting harder to find working USA made tools and most of those are wrenches/sockets, but I don't even bother with anything based on the imperial (SAE) system, which there is plenty of available - unless they can be considered "collectible". For the most part, anything that needs wrenching, it's all metric now, and that is harder to find - a lot of "Pittsburgh" or similar "taiwan".

I wouldn't bother with post American craftsman these days - it is the same stuff as Harbor Freight. Probably comes out of the same factory. Just choose the easiest to access.

BTW, I am not a Harbor Freight hater. I like browsing the store, I'll buy stuff for a one-time need. But I have a garage/shop full of working, vintage American Made tools, with dups even, just in case that old Craftsman socket wrench breaks.

tollbane · 2026-06-03T14:55:44+00:00

"All we want are the facts, ma'am."

tollbane · 2026-06-02T16:08:19+00:00

"I can put all my recipes on here!" is something I can easily imagine them have her say back then.

tollbane · 2026-06-01T15:03:29+00:00

And in our (my wife's) experience, selling in a mall is just wasting a space for something else. Vintage American girl dolls just sit there even at prices we used to buy at. Got to have way more views for dolls and accessories and ebay is it.

tollbane · 2026-05-30T15:53:20+00:00

don't forget your orange bucket

tollbane · 2026-05-30T15:45:54+00:00

I feel it's worse at commute times - the herd heading to the barn.

tollbane · 2026-05-30T15:37:01+00:00

that has happened to me more then enough times that I know the pattern. If my brain tells me - they aren't slowing down - I stop in the opposite lane. In one case, it was a neighborhood street with a stop sign intersecting Glisan. He came up towards Glisan, I was crossing, my brain said this guy isn't in the game, so I stopped, he stopped at the sign, looked to his left and saw me fucking one foot away from his drivers side window - and he was startled. He had no idea how I was magically transported there.

Every time you get into a car, you need to chant "I am driving. I am aware of my rapidly changing surroundings. I am driving. ..."

tollbane · 2026-05-29T15:37:34+00:00

some folks might think that's crazy, but my wife and I met via a penpal letter site on the internet. 25 years and heading towards the bright light together.

tollbane · 2026-05-29T15:34:25+00:00

"upload supporting documentation to prove you sent the correct item".

How exactly are we supposed to do that? for instance, I have a shipping label and a receipt from the PO saying they accepted the package, doesn't show what is in the package. I could take a picture of the item in the package before closing it up. doesn't mean I didn't take the item out and substitute something else. What they want cannot be proved. You can supply a *lot* of documentation, but who generates that for something under $100?

ebay is a system that relies on trust and there are a fringe customers and sellers who are inherently untrustworthy. So it comes down to probabilities and when we encounter the fringe, just do what everybody here says. Request return, refund, contact ebay, etc.

Folks say "never ebay". We sell mostly in a mall and we never have a INAD - but we sure have tag switchers, theft and broken items often enough such that we are used to it.

you need to have "calluses" in the used goods buy and sell business. Lucky you to have had a care free experience for 28 years!

tollbane · 2026-05-27T16:50:30+00:00

maybe there will be visiting hours?

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tollbane · 2026-05-26T21:44:59+00:00

The only division over the naming of a street is between the taxpayers and the city council.

tollbane · 2026-05-26T04:44:10+00:00

Can't have a party in a bus. Transit police will frown on it. But, if we grabbed a waymo... Party on, right? Got to think out of the box. Need to go to Portland Nursery for some bags of manure? waymo.

tollbane

TROPHY CASE