Hey Craig, Thanks

Dear Craig,

Whoever the heck you are, I really don't care. I was buying something about 20 years ago when a friend of mine said something about Craigslist. I really did not pay any attention. I didn't care, and I sure wasn't going to trust the advice of some dude named Craig, who I didn't even know existed.

Now, 20 years later, I just made a very cool trade on Craigslist, that was done only because I really love a good story.

Last night a woman called about a used walker that I had for sale on Craigslist for fifteen bucks. She doesn't know that I actually bought it used, and only paid five dollars for it. The woman was willing to drive over to my place about twenty or so miles from where I live, and she happened to live next to Val's Burger's on the border of Castro Valley and Hayward. I told the lady who was calling me that if she bought me a burger from Val's that I'd give her the walker for free. She laughed uproariously, and we ended up spending about half an hour talking about all our good memories of eating at the best burger place in the entire San Francisco Bay Area, that somehow is still almost a little hole in the wall that most people have only driven past, or never even heard of. I told her how I'd once sold an item on Craigslist from a man from New Zeland who claimed to be an "International Chef" traveling through the United States. I told the man if he bought the item I was selling, I'd come down in my price by three hundred dollars on one condition: We all had to go eat a burger at Val's Burgers, and if he didn't think it was one of the best burgers he'd ever eaten, then I'd drop three hundred off the price. Needless to say, I didn't have to drop the price, because he said, "This is one of the three best burgers I've eaten while traveling the United States. It's really very good. I should have listened to you, and got it on the toasted, sliced sourdough."

So, Craig, who the hell are you? Why did you ever dream of doing this cool thing, called Craigslist?

I just want to thank you.

Free. I get to sell stuff for free. I get to have a cool story that I am one of the only people who has ever had Val's delivered to his door step, twenty miles away. I ended up giving the woman ten bucks, and the walker, in exchange for two Val's momma burgers, and the steak fries. What a great deal.

My apologies to those of you who choose to refrain from eating certain foods if this post finds some offence.

I see woman who are posted on Craigslist with prices attached to various services. I believe in free trade, and only hope that these women are willingly offering those services. I know of people who use Craigslist to post fake ads, selling things they don't even own, ripping people off, etc.

Sure, we know there are some very sick individuals who have used Craigslist, and other forms of communication, to harm and even kill other people who fell into a trap, sadly, because they trusted someone who was not worthy of their trust.

I'm willing to bet that the average Craigslist user like me has made some bunches of sales for stuff on Craigslist that benefited both seller and user. I bought a bike rack the other day from a guy who didn't even have to get out of his car on High Street in Alameda, and I handed him the thirty bucks he requested in his ad only two or so hours previously. We both got what we wanted, at something like eighty percent off retail, all for free.

I have no freaking idea how Craig makes money off this site, except that there are certain poster's who pay for ads. Not me. Not any of the people I've met in the hundred's of sales I've been involved in over these last twenty, or so years.

I also have to thank my friend Linda, from Chicago, whom I met in Oakland: my place of birth. Linda was in her forties when she got a form of cancer that caused her blindness, and eventually loss of life. Linda laughed when I first rejected the idea of using a thing on the internet called Craigslist.

Thanks for reading.

Warning: Don't bother reading anything below. It is pure sarcasm.

Key Words: Furniture; Cars; Truck; Van; Camper Van; Mirrors; Bicycles: Bike Racks; Chairs; Sofa; Patio Furniture; Recreational stuff of all types; Ski equipment; Lumber; Tools; Power Tools; Including things I bought that I was about 100 percent certain were stolen, and bought anyway; Dog and cat crates donated by people for Valley Fire Victims; So much other stuff I've transacted on Craigslist that it totals probably over one hundred thousand dollars over the last twenty years, and it didn't cost me anything to post.

Also, as I'm in a good mood currently, I hereby forgive all the rather rude Craigslist user's who have flagged my ad's in the past, most likely for my refusal to lower my price, including those who have harassed me by flagging me repeatedly. With tightness in my chest, I forgive you. Ahhhh.

Just knock it off, for Craig's sake! Be nice: Acts of Random Kindness, please.
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By the way, I had to re-post this ad an hour after I originally posted it, as it had been almost immediately flagged for removal. How ironic. How fitting. How symbolic of the way we humans should learn to co-exist, and move on without doing any harm. Yet, whomever flagged the ad, for whatever reason, also is free. And, that's what I like about Craigslist.

Accept the challenge: be thankful, and engage in Acts of Random Kindness. Thanks.



via Craigslist http://ift.tt/24Cz0qx

Black velvet painting -- oddball

"Mentalpus Can't Make It Stop"

Acrylic on black velvet
Superbly painted by Taylor Winder.

24"x36"

You can't see the sparkles so well here, but they're in the background as well as the creature's eyes.
This piece is a must-see, hilarious and disturbing at the same time.








via Craigslist http://ift.tt/1WeUt7U