Sunday, August 14, 2005

Oompah redux...

Come on, really...did you honestly think I could withstand the pull of the St. Mary's parish festival when it was right there calling my name? Of course not. So, for the second day straight I was drawn into the magic that is small town America.

Before you get too excited, let me tell you that there was no oompah today. In it's place was a rock/country band. (The ever so inspired Sibling Rivalry if you were wondering.) I was greeted with a chorus of "hell, yeahs!" coming from said band as I walked up. (It wasn't directed at me by the way. I think they were just moved by the holy spirit to shout out.)

Today there was a silent auction and an regular auction. A word of advice when it comes to Catholic auctions and thrift stores and such...they pretty much suck...except St. Vinnie's (St. Vincent de Paul for any thrift neophytes) which is usually pretty good. Today was no exception and was actually remarkable in the level of badness which it achieved.

I did buy a Pop-A-Shot for my nephews though. That's right...a full-sized Pop-A-Shot.

But wait Shawn...didn't you just say that today's auction was terrible? It was. I stand by that, but I'm pretty effin gifted when it comes to bargain buys. I can usually find the one thing worth buying and buy it.

The bidding started out pretty fierce to start...then I jumped in at $10 and everyone could see that there was a shark in the water. Let's just say, I tightened the screws and my competition cracked. I knocked my last competitor out with a left and a mighty bid of $16. Don't mess with me, I'm a master of bid jitsu. I would have gone to $20 and everyone knew it...Pop-A-Shot was mine.

I celebrated by eating a second cheeseburger as I quietly watched the rest of the auction crawl along. I bought a random old guy a Mt. Dew and helped a couple of ladies load an old appliance into their van. I was a victor, I could afford to share the joy.

Now, here I am...just waiting to see when my counter will tick over 1,000. I always miss these little blogging milestones and I'm determined not to miss this one...

9 comments:

tshsmom said...

I gotta ask; what's a Pop-a-Shot?

Shawn said...

Ah, good question... It's a contraption with a couple of basketball hoops and a timer/scorer. You have X amount of time to toss in as many baskets a you can. The balls (which are smallish in size) keep rolling down to you so you can keep shooting and there are nets on the sides to keep stray shots from flying off. They're often found in sports bars and at carnivals. Guys love 'em because it allows us to compete in a semi-sportlike way without actually working too hard.

Laura said...

ohhh yeah, those! Nice. Church sales can be great. A friend of mine found a light-up, 3-D, panorama of DaVinci's Last Supper - CLASSIC!

And as for DePaul - I went to his namesake university - let me tell you - I know anything with his name is great for selling crap! :-p

Shawn said...

Wow...DaVinci in 3D! I can't imagine how pleased he would be to know how his art has transformed and elevated society. It's an artist's dream.

tshsmom said...

Oh, THAT'S what you call those things. You DID get a good buy!

Laura, weren't there any velvet Elvis paintings or gambling dogs paintings?

Jason said...

Pop-a-shots rule! Shawn, you're getting WAY too much excitement lately. ;-)

joanne said...

Hey, Shawn, I tried to email you and let you know why I took down my blog, but the email address on your profile doesn't seem to work. Thanks for asking about me on phoenix's blog. I am doing okay, hope all is well with you too.

Shawn said...

You're right Jason...I have indeed had too much fun. I think I'm going to just lay low and try and absorb all the greaat wonders I've seen lately.

JoAnne - Glad that everything's going good. Sorry about the email...guess I typed in an extra letter to it. It should be fine now.

Laura said...

Yep, 3-D... I was so jazzed by it we found our own last year (it was a birthday gift actually)... it's hanging in our bathroom. :D