One of my birthday or Christmas presents from Jill was a “make & take” bookcase making class at the fancypants high end hardware store nearby.
Both of us were picturing a modest sized bookcase, maybe 3′ tall by 2′ wide. Truthfully, I was hoping for a lower and wider option that could be used for Noah.
Instead, every surface of my car had to be rapidly reconfigured in order to stuff the extremely heavy 5′x3′x1′ bookcase into it at the end of a very long day.
Don’t get me wrong! It was an interesting class. I learned a ton, the instructor “bookcase Bob” and his assistant George were lovely and helpful. I would totally take a class there again.
I’ll post pictures of the bookcase soon.
When I got home, Jill was watching the Barrett-Jackson classic car auction on the speed channel. I thought that it was an endless ridiculous auction that never ends, but in fact, when we’d been watching it during the last month, we were watching RE-RUNS. Yes. Re-runs of a car auction on television.
EDITED to clarify: When I got home, what was on was not a re-run. However, we have been watching it with regularity for about a month. The speed channel ran re-runs for weeks in the lead-up to the live auction. Also, Erin, if the car was blue and had an autographed dashboard, it was the same car. Frighteningly, the one I saw was only the 3rd most expensive in the auction, and the announcers debated whether or not it would still be in the top 10 by the end.
After watching a guy spend $600,000 for a sports car, I’d had enough. Jill observed that she has really learned a lot watching these auctions.
I agree. Here’s what I’ve learned:
- There are people our age who can afford to spend over half a million dollars on a car they can’t possibly drive more than once per week.
- The show’s producers are obnoxiously sexist.
- If you are incredibly lucky, you will find a classic car in a barn and sell it for a ridiculous amount of money.
ooooh can’t wait to see the bookcase! Also: fine, you don’t ever get a ride in my Bentley.
fyi Liza- It is seriously DOUBTFUL that the people who spend over a half million dollars on a car will ever drive it more than once or twice at all!
Top story from the Duluth News Tribune site (where I went after reading your blog):
Local man pleased after Thunderbird ‘Italien’ sold for $600,000:
Tom Maruska is happy after selling his one-of-a-kind 1963 Ford Thunderbird Italien for $600,000 on Saturday evening. “I did very well on it,” he said by phone today from Arizona, where the car was auctioned. “It’s the best year I’ve ever had in my life.”
Tom Maruska of Lakewood Township has restored this 1963 Ford Thunderbird Italien, which is believed to be a one-of-a-kind concept car. Maruska received the damaged and aged car on Feb. 19, 2006, and has spent about 1,800 hours restoring it to mint condition. [AMANDA ODESKI/NEWS TRIBUNE]
Really, how many people are there out there selling 600,000 cars? Your auction must not have been too much of a re-run, not that local news is known for breaking stories other than the coldest temp in the country type. Wierd.
For clarification, we had the reruns of the auction on last week, and we had the 2008 auction on this weekend.
The car that prompted Liza to write about this was a “Shelby”.
i love watching that auction! was mike joy the announcer again this year? i love him.
it’s not all $600,000 cars. last time i watched one of my dream cars — a beautifully restored (mass-produced) 62 or 63 thunderbird convertible — sold for like $25,000. very reasonable!
Having endured quite a lot of that auction, I can confirm that most of the cars don’t go for that much — many more are in the $25-50k range.
Jill will have to answer the question about the announcer.
Yes, I think Mike Joy was one of the announcers. And I’m guessing the average winning bids are somewhere in the $60-$80K range, with several in the more easily attainable $25-$50K range.
I believe the highest price for a Trans Am was $63K.