A taste of ham(fest)...

So today was the BRATS Hamfest at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship.

So at 5am, Mad Anthony left his comfortable townhouse with a 24-ounce cup of 7-11 coffee and a 6 foot bed full of assorted electronics. You know you've been to too many hamfests when you start to recognize hamfest regular's cars - I passed a black suburban with NY plates, and instantly knew who it was, a regular who has bought a ton of stuff from me.

It started out slow, and I didn't think it was going too well. I ended up doing very well though - I grossed $485, not bad for a couple hours work. Best of all, I moved a few items that I have been dragging around for a while, and several large items that were taking up a bunch of space, including an Ultra Wizard pc case and a Polaroid photo printer. My seized TSA knife sales were surprisingly slow, but it does seem to draw people to the table.

I didn't really get a chance to shop much - bsom and the two students who came with us were wandering most of the time, so I was chained to the table (which is only fair-it's my stuff). I only bought one thing, a Yamaha cd player. I sold a Yamaha amp -not working - for a $40 profit - a few months back, so I thought I might do OK with this. The only completed I could find on eBay had a dent in it and a broken tray, so I don't know if this is worth anything or not, but I could afford the gamble.

My compatriots in Ham, however, cleaned up. One of the students found a Wacom tablet for $20, still in the box (goes on eBay for $175+) and a Mondavo desk clock for $1. The other student bought a bunch of video cards and sound cards, an IBM Thinkpad, and a power supply. BSOM snatched up on a bunch of NOS Radio Shack 30-second-loop cassette tapes, a mouse for an Atari PC, and a park ranger badge.

After Ham, we stopped at Lotte, an Asian supermarket in Ellicot City. They have a food court, and I ate a giant pile of spicy pork. Came home, counted my money, called bsom to brag, unloaded the truck (luckily, with way less stuff than I started out with) and took a nap.

I still feel tired, despite having been up for the last 5 hours - I always wake up from naps feeling crappier than when I went to sleep. I should be wide awake in a few hours, just in time to go to bed.