The garage sale was a complete success!!

I must start this post by telling you that, as of this last Friday, Leena is gone. Sadly, it was almost as if she couldn't wait to go. We were finalizing the packing for the sale on Saturday, and had the garage & car doors open. She kept jumping into the car, and wouldn't come out... Not even to say goodbye... I hope she's happy, because I didn't sleep a wink that night.

Friday, after a grueling week, we were finally ready to start pricing everything. It felt as though I was trying to put a price on my life. We put stickers on and marked everything in the sale, it's quite a process. I was comforted by the notion that I am not my stuff... its just "stuff"... I kept what I wanted to, things that are personal to me, and sold everything else. And I mean _everything_...

My parents arrived around a quarter to 5am on Saturday. I had been up since 4, that is to say "out of bed" since 4, so it was a very early morning after a sleepless night. Thank goodness though, because I was letting people into the gates at 6am, an hour before the community garage sale was supposed to start. The association was hosting a community garage sale on the same day, so the timing couldn't have been better. They advertised the garage sales, and I had been posting my moving sale on Craig's List everyday for the past week. The turn out was a little overwhelming.

There are so many great stories from this day, where do I begin? From 6am to about 7:30am, the crowd was nearly all professionals. By this I mean people who scour garage sales, simply to resell the items at local swap meets. Wow, let me tell ya, they know all the tricks. The most annoying was what I call "piling"... They would take a bunch of items, priced at X dollars, and offer half the sticker price for the whole pile. It was hard to tell exactly what they had, and I'm sure I lost a bit of money, but at least the stuff is sold... At least that's what I tell myself.

By 8am we had sold probably 30% of the items, but everything sold so far was small stuff. Then, the bargain hunters started to appear.

Side note, around 7:30am a neighbor showed up, and said they were just waking up, trying to figure out what they were going to sell today. We had been working on this for weeks... but I'm selling everything, and they were just looking to clean out their garage. Different strokes...

So, 8am, and it was still a mad house. We had stuff on the driveway, in the garage, in the kitchen, in the living room, and in the backyard, all for sale. We had taped off the stairs, with a sign that read, "Beware Of Dog", which of course was not true because Leena was already gone. It was a great deterrent though, and made us laugh all day.

Over the years, I have collected a huge mass of cables and electronic chargers. My little brother made a great comment, "where are all the devices that go to these chargers?". I had a box full of chargers, and nobody knew what they went to. When you're a gadget freak like me, this is what happens.

Worst than that though was the box of cables. We spread them out on a blanket, and probably covered a 5' by 5' square on the driveway. Hundreds of cables, everything from video, audio, usb... you name it, it was there. My Dad was hilarious trying to sell the cables, which we were offering a 2-for-1 deal. Every time someone bought something from him, he said "Oh, it looks like you need some cables with that... come over here and lets pick some out." Buy a wine glass? You need some cables. Buy a toilet plunger? You need some cables. Buy a painting, a mirror, a set of dishes? You need some cables... It was awesome to watch. No wonder he did well in sales.

Several neighbors came by during the day, and one in particular was very bummed when she just missed the sale of a huge wall mirror I had hung in my bedroom. The mirror that sold would have matched her living room perfectly, but she missed it by two minutes.

Years ago, when I bought the mirror, my little brother came over to help me hang it. We wrote our names and date on the wall behind it. This is a picture of the wall after we took down the mirror on Friday. The date: 05-27-07.

The buyers asked me to help them load the mirror into their van, and I obliged. While the husband was helping me load the mirror, the wife struck up a conversation. She just happened to ask, "any idea when you bought the mirror?"... I replied, "Of course, 5-27-07!" The look on their faces was priceless. It was as if I had told them the secret to life. I can only imagine the thoughts going through their heads, either I'm a savant with a photographic memory, or I'm a great lier.

Perhaps one of the best stories comes from the neighbor across the street. They walked over to peruse the selection, and saw a dish set that looked familiar. The wife recognized one of the sets, and jumped to say, "wait, I have one of those!" She ran back to the house, and produced a matching salad plate to my dish set. Turns out, it was actually my plate! We had given their family some cookies for Christmas, years ago, and she didn't remember where that plate had come from. I've had this set since I first moved out 18 years ago, and am now only missing one bowl... not bad, but it still didn't sell.

As the day went on, I got more and more forward with the shoppers. I started "booing" people who walked away empty handed. We had sold so much stuff, and not much was left, so the pressure was on to sell. I sat at the bottom of the driveway and monitored everyone that left. As they approached, empty handed, I would yell out, "what, seriously, nothing? 'Booooo'..." I had a smile on my face, and everyone laughed as they left, so it was fun.

There were a lot of interesting characters who came to the moving sale, including the "President of the Historical Arms Society", who wouldn't leave even if we paid him. I met a guy who hung out with Stephen Hawking, backstage at one of his speeches.

Someone actually offered to buy the dish washing soap off the counter. Really? Really?

Who am I to talk, I sold the stove at 4pm, I sold the refrigerator at around 5pm, and I almost sold the ceiling lamp, but that would've required electrical work. I sold everything in the backyard, including the furniture, the fake plants with weeds growing in their fake pot, right down to the garden hose.

I had been awake for more than 36 hours, and was ready to sell anything. I'm glad that Leena was gone. Someone actually offered to buy the fireplace, which is built into the house... "Sure, its only $600,000... and it comes with a free house!"

So Sunday was a weird day to wake up to: Mother's Day. I woke up to a completely empty house, which was a bit of a shock. I spent the day wondering around San Diego, having a great time with my family. We had a delicious Mexican lunch, and went to the SD gardens, which was beautiful. My family really helped take my mind off what I had done, and what I "lost"... rather: gave up.

At the end of the day, the garage sale was a total success. This is my motorcycle parked in my garage. Later that day, I parked my car where my motorcycle is; that's a testament to how much we sold.

I couldn't have done it without my family! I've been relying on them completely lately, and its really a great feeling....

Dear family, I love you!

It’s quiet… and really bright!

Over the past week, my parents have been helping me pack up the house. We have made tremendous progress, but still I feel there is so much to do.

So far, we have sorted through the entire garage, a feat unto itself. Everything is in boxes at this point, except my clothes, and the walls are bare. The kitchen is packed up, cupboards emptied, cleaned, and even the kitchen table is now missing.

Today my Dad & I spent about four hours removing the special light switches I installed over the past four years. This means that I can no longer dim my lights, which makes my house either too bright, or too dark, but it needed to be done sooner rather than later. I actually have to walk around and turn lights on & off… oh the horror!!

It’s quiet because my cable service is no more, including the TV & Internet. No television, no Netflix, no internet radio, no email, no skype calls, no text messaging, no twitter, no news… you get the idea. It’s peaceful, but unusually quiet around here.

This evening I had to drive down to the local Town Center just to get a signal on a hotspot so I can make some business & personal calls. It is truly amazing how much of my life has come to depend on the internet. I must hop on & offline at least 100 times a day; who knows, maybe more. Without cell service, the feeling of disconnect is that much more amplified.

We’re close, maybe another week out from leaving this house behind. I can’t say I’ll miss it, but will always remember it with fondness.