Home, ham...

Well, I actually was able to sell at a Hamfest today - the Mason/Dixon hamfest in Westminster.

No pics- I brought the camera but didn't get to take any pics. I did gross a little over $300. I ended up selling some stuff for less than I paid for it just to get rid of it, but I figured it's better to have money in my wallet than crap in my basement.

I only bought one thing, and for once it's something I can actually use - a toner cartridge for my printer, a Samsung ML-1740. The guy wanted $45, but I bargained him down to $30 thanks to my master negotiating skills (and the fact that it was late in the day). I usually pay around $55 at buy.com, so this is a good deal. Granted, I probably won't need a new cartridge for a while, but at least it's something useful.

Most of the stuff I've bought at Hamfests has fallen into three catagories 1)stuff I thought I could resell for a profit but couldn't (a rack-mounted server console, an apple powerbook g3 pismo that turned out to have a dead hard drive, a box of old 486 IBM Thinkpads), a 2) stuff I don't need now but might someday (ie a backpack cdrom drive) or 3) stuff I don't need but might be able to put to use (a set of outdoor speakers, an iPod sign from a defunct Radio Shack). There isn't anything I've bought at a 'fest that I can say I use on a regular basis (although I do plan on mounting those speakers on my deck next summer...) so if I can reduce the amount of crap I buy that's a win-win.

The truck worked well for the 'fest - held everything well. I used a truck net to secure stuff this time, which I bought at a yard sale for $5 over the summer. It was a pain to untangle but otherwise worked well. However, I do want to get a tonneau cover and bedliner for the Ranger. My plan is to take most of the money from this Hamfest, along with whatever random non-income money I get in the next few months (rebates, ebay revenue, loose change, gifts, overtime, ect) and put it in a savings account towards truck stuff. I'm hoping to actually buy it in January.