A few posts back, I wondered why every time I go downstairs to get some tea from the cafeteria (at work) - I always seem to choose the wrong drawer for my teaspoon. This, despite having worked at the same location for nearly 3 years! So, in the end my solution was to write about it. The result? Nearly 2 weeks later, and I’m reaching for the right drawer every time! Woo!

Why is it that sometimes one just needs to vocalise (or in this case write) about something before that little part of your brain goes “click”?

Speaking of what goes “click” or “crick” as the case may be, my chiropractor gave my neck a right going over yesterday afternoon. It’s STILL sore a day later. While I’ve no doubt it’ll feel a lot better very shortly - I do sometimes wonder what compels people to seek out such treatment.

I’ve finally received confirmation that my precious, vintage glass HP Sauce bottle from the UK which I bought on eBay is on it’s way. Woo! Only problem is, now there’s a few more listed on eBay - some of which look to be in exceptional shape as well. I wonder, am I at the age where collecting things just becomes second nature? I’m reminded of my wife’s grandfather who spent an enormous amount of time collecting old pop bottles. He even built a room behind his house to showcase them! And while I have at least 50 years to go before I reach his age (physically), perhaps it’s not too soon to start working on a zoning variance for an addition onto my garage?! lol

I received some fantastic HP Sauce photos from an online friend this afternoon! Thank you! I’ll post them to the gallery in the next day or so, but for now - that’s all I’m saying.

I was out for lunch with a friend last week when I heard a phone ringing behind me. Not an unusual occurance at all really - people forget to turn off or at least turn down their cell phones at restaurants all the time right? It was the ring itself that intruigued me. It sounded like an old rotary dial phone, and was loud enough and convincing enough to pass for one as well. I’ve heard all sorts of ringtones but never an old rotary “bell” ring like that before.

The next day, I was at lunch with another friend, at a different location when I heard someone elses cell phone ring with the very same ringtone! I did a double take to make sure it wasn’t the same person, and it wasn’t. Still, hearing the same “new” ringtone twice in as many days is a bit strange I thought and I’ve not heard it again since.

For those reading this from outside North America, the ring I’m referring to is a long sustained ring that was common here before touch tone phones became popular. I prefer the European style ring myself - that being the double “ring…ring”.

Regarding the vintage HP Sauce bottle I bought on eBay. I’ve STILL not heard boo from the seller. What kind of person posts an HP bottle for sale on eBay and doesn’t follow up with the sale? Odd. Will post more as this develops.

Lately, the media has been going crazy over how popular online poker is. I really don’t get the appeal of online poker myself, and up until yesterday I hadn’t had any first hand exposure to it. That is until I pull up to a local 7-11 with a friend.

As we were getting out of the car, I noticed a minivan next to us. In it, there was a HUGE laptop mounted beside the driver, sort of like how police & utility vehicles use laptops. Beside the laptop was what looked like a webcam on a long flexible post, and sticking out from the laptop itself was an antenna for wireless access. The woman IN the minivan was playing online poker from her laptop! What is up with that?? This person is so addicted to online poker, she had all this gear setup in her minivan as to never be parted from it? And before anyone asks, yes, this IS different than carrying around a bottle of HP Sauce in ones car. Online poker in ones car is just weird!

As I sat working at my cubicle yesterday, I recalled the garage sale I mentioned in my last post. As I wondered where I could find out more information on old HP bottles and the like - it suddenly occurred to me to check on eBay. Afterall, what CAN’T you find on eBay these days? (don’t answer that)

Usually I only turn to eBay as a last resort. It’s not because I don’t like buying/selling there, but because I like to hunt for things. Finding something you’re looking for after a bit of scrounging at a garage sale or a flea market can be particularly rewarding. Still, I had tried that route recently and had come up dry - so perhaps a quick search on eBay was in order.

Moments later, I had located an old glass HP Sauce bottle on eBay, complete with raised lettering! So they do exist as I thought they might. The auction was held in the UK and there was an opening bid of GBP 1.00 (sans reserve). There was little over 2 hours left in the auction as well. “What luck!” I thought. Then it dawned on me - I had a meeting in 1 1/2 hours. If I’m to bid on this lil gem of an HP Sauce bottle, then what should my maximum bid be? 5 pounds? 10 pounds? The seller him/herself even noted that they hadn’t a clue how old the bottle is. How much is something like this worth to a wannabe collector?

I placed my maximum bid, and went to my meeting and not even 5 minutes later and I’d completely forgotten about it. It wasn’t untill 3 hours later when I realised that the auction had ended. I came back to my desk and logged in to eBay. It turns out I won the auction! That old glass bottle was mine for GBP 1.20! Lucky lucky!

P.S. I’ve since made payment, and almost 24 hours later I’ve still not heard back from the seller. worried look

On Saturdays, we typically go out “garage sale’ing”, and this week was in many respects no different than any other. We usually stay to our own end of town, not straying too far from our typical ‘route’. This week however, we ended up in an area of town to which I haven’t been in some time -and deliberately so I might add. But there we were, all the way across town at 8:00am at a garage sale advertised to open at 9:00am. The woman hosting the sale had only just begun to set up, and in typical Winnipeg fashion, she had a number of people lurking around just waiting to dive in (We weren’t the only nutters out there at 8:00am!). Boxes lay strewn, unopened on the front lawn with empty tables on the side waiting for someone to populate them. We nosed around a bit, trying to be polite and not simply rip into any and every box we saw - and it hit me (yeah, again). I called my 5 year old son over and said “why don’t you go ask that lady over there if she has any old HP bottles?”. Sure enough, bold as brass he walked straight up to her and said “Do you have old HP bottles?”. I didn’t even get a moment to stifle a giggle when she looked straight at me from across the lawn and said “Old HP bottles??” as others garage sale goers look up from their digging (not everyone is as polite as we it seems). “Why would you want old HP bottles?” she said as she walked across the lawn to where I was standing. I was halfway embarrased and halfway to bursting into hysterics “I….I..” was all I could manage, yet there she was, actually waiting for an answer. “It’s a hobby.” I finally said. “Old HP Bottles?” she said again with hands on her hips. I was still at a loss for words - which surprised even me. It’s not every day people question me about my “hobby” like that in such a direct, and public manner. I didn’t need anymore of a scene there already was so I added “Yeah, I’m looking for old glass HP bottles. The kind with the HP etched into the glass”. I really didn’t know if such things actually existed, but hey it seemed like a good time to test out my ‘doesn’t hurt to ask’ approach again. Still, this was carrying on longer than I liked, afterall it was pretty obvious by now that such items didn’t make it to into her yard sale! “Well” she said, shaking her head. “I guess people will collect just about anything won’t they!” she excaimed as she finally left to tend to someone else. “You’re darned right!” I muttered to myself as we went back to the car.