Before the Golden Age

Short Stories collected by Isaac Asimov.
Over 900 pages.
Amazing book, still in great shape.
These stories were collected and put together by Mr. Asimov from when he was a kid and he would read science fiction magazines such as Amazing Stories and others.

Remembering that not only were these original stories written in the 1930s, before cell phones, before computers, before reaching the moon, but they were collected and assembled decades later into a book before all that as well.

And yet, these stories read almost exactly like episodes of the Star Trek TV series!
Only the names were different, but the descriptions were almost identical.

Instead of phasers, they were called guns-that-shot-beams.
Instead of monitor screens, they were called visiports,
and instead of computers, the robots conversed and computed in spaceships that were even more slick and quiet than the Enterprise.

On a planet with atmosphere, the spaceships ran on energy collected from air.
The only story that was so annoying that I couldn't even finish reading it, was a story about the moon.

The general public at the time still wasn't convinced the moon wasn't made of green cheese, and
astronauts had not brought back moon rocks.
Even keeping that in mind, reading a love story about the moon that was covered in a thin film of light green moss was too annoying. Too much fiction away from any science I guess.

One story about Mars had beings on it that hadn't been seen by earth's telescopes because the beings lived in canals behind cliffs, which was amusing, but the atmosphere was described as red, windy, and cold and was believable and intriguing.

I can't wait to put it up for sale to hopefully share with someone.
I'm only on page 700, so might be a little while.

And yes, barring inclement weather, I am visiting my bulk vending route Monday.
I will be happy to get back on the road after a very rough and trouble Friday 13th.
Was bad. All too eager to get back to work.
 All the best,
YoungImages.com
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This site transitioning to books

Books are so much more interesting, don't u think?
I originally opened my book-room when Half.com came into being
around November, 2000.
Since then, I have travelled all over the country.
I have left behind some beautiful books, sold most of them, read
and donated others.
Yet I have kept my book-room, even when Half.com moved into eBay.
Still here...
 

 

Pray for those in path of hurricane

The 3-day weekend was luscious. Back to work!

Have a safe Labor Day week!

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Sunday's Child

Monday's Child is Fair of Face, 
Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace, 
Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe,
Thursday's Child Has Far to Go, 
Friday's Child is Loving and Giving, 
Saturday's Child Works Hard for a Living, 
Sunday's Child is Bonny and Brave. 

Saturday's Child Works Hard for a Living

Fun Facts About Saturday

Saturday is the first official day of the regular two-day weekend, and is a day usually synonymous with sleeping in late, being lazy, or going for a night out to paint the town.

Saturday is often the most common day of the week for sports to take place, often ensuring maximum turn-out from fans who would otherwise be working in the week.

There’s quite a few interesting facts about Saturdays themselves, as well as a tapestry of really interesting names for Saturday around the world, so without further delay let’s get to it.

1. Saturday takes its name from Saturn, the Roman god of generation, dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal, and liberation.
2. Generally speaking, many of the days of the week were renamed from the Roman calendar to the Germanic calendar after the Germanic deities instead of the Roman ones. However, for the day Saturday, the Germanic calendar stuck with naming the day after Saturn as none of the Germanic gods were the equivalent of Saturn.
3. In different cultures such as Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called lördag,lørdag, or laurdag, with the name being derived from the old word laugr/laug, meaning bath. So therefore ‘lördag’ equates to “bath-day.” This is due to the Viking practice of bathing on a Saturday.

A Word About HSUS

My main charity of choice is HSUS,
Humane Society of United States.
I often don't agree with their ideologies
or politics, but their animal rescue is
beyond reproach. 
Best Friends is absolutely awesome.
They helped me as best they could to re-home
pets many years ago, one of the best.
As much as I believe in their adoption programs,
the only reason I don't donate to any SPCA
is because they euthanize, and it's a tough call.
 

HSUS.org

My Perfect Route

As a side-note, I should say that one does not make a living from a
10-machine route. It is a starter route.
One makes a living from a 100-machine route.
That is what I am still working toward, but I'm supposed to retire soon,
and so I will prolly leave this route to an animal person/organization.
I can hope they understand vending and respect the locations.

Because my accountant says so!

My accountant said to walk away from this route.
Apparently I’m living below the poverty line.
We compromised and I lowered my 10-machine route to $1500.
Please! At cost! The machines new were $100 each, and the locator was $50 each.
And this sale includes tools, product/gum/toys/candy, and software!
My accountant doesn’t read this, so I’m not walking away.
In fact, I’m going to keep servicing them until they sell.  

I had planned to add a machine/location every couple of months
precisely to make a living, totally!
But it takes too long and I need to retire soon, so that’s that.
But walk away? Not yet anyway...

Maybe, Maybe not...

Listen up, there are 10 machines in this route,
and they are all bulk vending machines that vend 1" bubblegums.
2-machines that are still in original locations have plain M&Ms.
I can service all 10 machines in 1 day, but I don't.
Since I work other jobs, I service 4 machines 1 day a week,
and at the end of each month, the route is completed.
I have a few charity boxes that are not up for sale because altho
they don't do as well, they are easy-peazy and I'm keeping
them for retirement.

I started a huge bulk-vending route while in college, 200 machines
in 150 stores, huge. It was fun and profitable, and it was back
before coin-counting machines, very hands-on.

This bulk vending route is an awesome starter route for family.
If u service all machines in 1 day once a month,
it earns $100 a month at the most.
If one develops relationships with the managers and/or
owners (I never did, I tend the machines and stay out of way as
much as possible, but only because I'm a mechanic,
not a salesman, Jim), sales can improve.

If one wants to work vending full-time, one can add to the route so
that 4-8 machines can be serviced 5 days a week without having to
re-visit machines more than 1ce a month.
One can invest slowly to get a feel for this business and route,
or can invest as u go.

That said, I may lower the price for the bulk vending route so that I
can invest into the smaller boxed charity route. I don't know when,
but fairly soon maybe...

Wildlife Waystation donations

Let’s take a look at some numbers.
I was on auto-pay for $10 a month to Wildlife Waystation,
And am on auto-pay for $5 a month to HSUS.
I also donate $2-$5 to various animal charities during every eBay purchase.
The donations ended up being almost half of monthly profits, so
I have cut down on purchases, and once I re-organize and expand the route,
and until I can find a comparable wildlife charity locally, I can add the Waystation back in to auto-pay.