I Dodged a Bullet at a Garage Sale

  I love going to garage sales. In fact there is one that I frequent just about every week. The lady who was having the garage sale had a Kirby G4 vacuum cleaner. She told me that she paid a lot of money for it back in the 90s. She initially wanted $40 for it and eventually said $5. I never pulled the trigger on the used vacuum. $5 for a used Kirby is a steal right? Well it might have been a steal but it was also a huge money pit.
  In fact the Kirby was missing a majority of it's parts. It was missing a cord screw, the brushroll and the rug plate and most importantly the belt. You can't simply use a Kirby without the belt. It's all in the belt lifter. Anyway I kept on joking to my Mom that I was going to get her a better vacuum than her Shark. I kept on at it for weeks. My mother wouldn't let me bring the vacuum into her home if I had bought it. In reality the metal head of this Kirby was really dusty. It had a nice layer of grime on top of it. It wouldn't even pass a white glove inspection.
  So I did some calculations to see how much of a money pit this vacuum was. The parts were as follows.

1. Rug Plate-$14.99
2. Brushroll-$34.95
3. Belt-$5.50
4. Cord Screw-$2.98
5. Pack of  9 Bags-$17.99
6. Light Bulb-$1.98
7. Hose-$49.50

The total cost would have been  $132.89 minus shipping costs. Anyway I did return to that garage sale to find out that someone actually bought that Kirby G4. I was relieved that somebody actually spent $5 on a money pit. Sure Kirby's are great vacuum cleaners but that one at the garage sale was a bad buy. Who knows what other parts it may have needed. What if It didn't work? Then what do I do? I would be out of $5. There is always the Kirby Factory Rebuild Program. Did you know that if you are not the original owner of the Kirby, you can still have the vacuum rebuilt? In fact if you aren't the original owner and want to get it rebuilt, you're going to pay a lot more than the original owner would pay. I checked out the rate for non original owners and it was $350! That's an insane amount of money to get a vacuum cleaner rebuilt. I would never consider spending that. My dad wouldn't even spend that kind of money on rebuilding a vacuum. He repaired appliances for a living and he didn't work on vacuums though. He would think that $350 to rebuild a 20 year old vacuum would be a waste of money.
  In the long run, I saved myself a lot of aggravation and headaches by not buying that Kirby G4. My wallet even thanked me. I like USA made vacuum cleaners, so If I were to spend the money on one that is made here in the USA I would buy a Sanitaire or a Hoover commercial vacuum.

Dialogue Tracks on Soundtracks

  If you are a huge fan of Lady Gaga, you probably already know that the soundtrack for A Star Is Born contains dialogue tracks. As a matter of fact 14 of the 34 tracks on this soundtrack consist of dialogue tracks. Dialogue tracks have no place on a soundtrack album at all.
  First off dialogue tracks ruin the listening experience of the soundtrack. They interrupt the chain and flow of the songs. First you hear a song and then wham, you start to hear talking, I like my soundtracks to contain zero dialogue tracks on them. I am a film score aficionado and I like to hear the instrumental music, I didn't pay for a CD to listen to talking, I bought it to listen to the film score. I didn't buy the Academy Award Winning score for The Hateful Eight because it contained dialogue tracks. I usually try to buy the Oscar for Best Original Score winners on CD but having dialogue tracks is a no-no for me.
 On a side note I do own two of The Simpsons soundtracks and they do contain a ton of dialogue tracks on them. Some of the song tracks have dialogue before the song starts. I'm not a fan of that at all but if I wanted to hear dialogue from The Simpsons, I would just go watch it on TV. But that's my opinion on that.
  I also have The Brave Little Toaster soundtrack by David Newman. Unfortunately however two of the score tracks contain dialogue on them. If I remember correctly Percepto Records didn't have the isolated instrumental score tracks available to them without dialogue on them. I don't understand why they couldn't have just rerecorded those two score cues so they wouldn't have the dialogue on them. Is it that hard to rerecord 2 measly score cues. It's annoying but I tend to drown out the dialogue whenever I listen to The Brave Little Toaster soundtrack.
  If I want to hear dialogue on a CD I would just go buy a spoken word album instead.

Disney Movies That Need Proper Blu-Ray Releases

  Disney is one of those companies that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love some of their movies but, they don't see them the same way that I do. I have several favorite Disney movies that are in dire need of a proper Blu-Ray release. It seems like Disney likes to neglect these films by treating them like a bastard stepchild.
  One of my favorite movies that Disney has distributed is The Brave Little Toaster (1987). It is a common misconception that The Brave Little Toaster is a Disney movie. Technically speaking, it wasn't made by Disney. It was made by Hyperion Animation with The Kushner-Locke Company. Disney only bought the distribution rights to the film. However due to Disney purchasing the distribution rights, they scrapped the theatrical release of The Brave Little Toaster. Instead of releasing it in theaters, it debuted on The Disney Channel and then went straight to video.
  The Brave Little Toaster was made in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. However this film hasn't been seen in widescreen since it was screened at Sundance Film Festival. Every DVD of this film is in fullscreen. The region 1 DVD has a very bad transfer that shakes. This movie has a cult following. It's timeless and needs a proper anamorphic widescreen HD transfer. In 2017 The Brave Little Toaster turned 30 years old. Disney didn't acknowledge this film turning 30 and never honored it with a proper DVD or Blu-Ray release in it's original aspect ratio. People would buy that in a heartbeat. Even the director, Jerry Rees expressed interest in a proper DVD release. He had no say in the DVD release that Disney put out. I really want to see this movie get a proper anamorphic widescreen release. It deserves it. I guess Disney hates money.
  Another one of my favorite Disney movies from the 90s is A Goofy Movie (1995). I remember going to see this one when it came out in theaters. If it wasn't for this movie I wouldn't be interested in AMC Pacers. Goofy's car in this movie is an AMC Pacer wagon. All car things aside here, A Goofy Movie also has a cult following among fans. Just like The Brave Little Toaster, A Goofy Movie has never received a proper anamorphic widescreen release or a Blu-Ray. In fact it's only been released in fullscreen format. In 2015, the 20th anniversary of it's release Disney neglected to give A Goofy Movie a proper release on Blu-Ray. I do believe this movie was planned on having a Blu-Ray release as a double feature with it's direct to video sequel An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000) but somehow it got put on the back burner by Disney. Again Disney apparently hates money.
  The third movie that needs a proper Blu-Ray release is Disney's Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.(1993). This film is a remake of The Incredible Journey that came out in 1963. The remake is more well known than the original version. In fact this movie has never gotten a widescreen release in physical form. I think a widescreen version was released to the digital streaming market and, I heard that there was a widescreen DVD that was released in Mexico? I could be wrong about Mexico getting a widescreen DVD release but I did read that somewhere online. I can't remember the site offhand. Ironically the film's sequel Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Fransisco was given a proper Widescreen DVD release whereas the original only has a fullscreen release. Again with this film having a cult following, it's time for it to see a proper HD Blu-Ray Release.
  Since Disney owns Star Wars, they need to do one thing to please the fans, release the original unaltered Trilogy on Blu-Ray. Many years ago the unaltered theatrical versions got released on DVD but there was one major problem, they were in non-anamorphic widescreen and on top of that the transfers were pretty bad. Disney would be really stupid to not release the original unaltered Star Wars Trilogy on Blu-Ray. They are practically sitting on a goldmine here. Star Wars fans would kill to have a proper Blu-Ray release of the unaltered trilogy. I don't know why Disney hasn't done this yet. I know there is a bootleg called the Despecialized trilogy out there but we need a proper release from Disney.
  C'mon Disney step up your game and just Shut Up and Take My Money already!

Hey It's That Guy Actor of the Day: Mike Starr

  I thought I would try a new type of post where every day I try to think of a Hey it's that guy actor. I'll do my best to try to remember new ones so I have a few of them lined up. I thought for my inaugural Hey It's That Guy Actor of the day, It would be no other than Mike Starr.
  Now this Mike Starr shouldn't be confused with the other Mike Starr, who is the late bassist for the band Alice in Chains. This is the actor we are talking about here. Now that I cleared up the confusion between the actor and the musician we can now proceed to talking about the actor.
  Mike Starr is the epitome of Hey It's That Guy actors. You recognize his face for being in a lot of movies, but you don't know his name. Mike Starr has been in a lot of hit movies and TV shows mostly playing bit parts. He is a typecast actor who seems to always be cast as a henchman or a thug of some sort. Some of the well known movies he starred in are as follows.

Mike Starr

1. The Bodyguard 
2. Dumb and Dumber
3. Goodfellas
4. Ed Wood
5. Jersey Girl
6. Miller's Crossing
7. The Last Dragon 
8. The Ice Harvest
9. Baby's Day Out
10. Uncle Buck
11. Born on the Fourth of July
12. Elvis has Left the Building

  In addition to his many movies that he had a part in, he also has had many roles in TV shows. Again mostly these roles were one time appearances. Some of the well known TV shows Mike Starr has been in.

1. Law and Order (He played various characters three times)
2. 3rd Rock from the Sun
3. Home Improvement
4. Ed (appeared in 45 Episodes)
5. The West Wing
6. Law and Order Criminal Intent
7. Without a Trace
8. Joan of Arcadia (4 Episodes)
9. NCIS
10. CSI NY
11. The Office
12. Days of Our Lives (5 Episodes)
13. Law and Order SVU
14. The Young and The Restless (30 Episodes)
15. Chicago Fire (5 Episodes)

That Time Sears Tried to Fix My Father's Adjustable Wrench

  Many years ago when my father still had his appliance repair business, he bought a majority of his tools at Sears. In fact Sears once had a store in Hazleton, PA. It closed way before I was born but I have heard stories about Sears being where the Hazleton Shopping Center is on Broad Street. There is now a UPS Store and an Urgent Care clinic there now. In fact the garage bays are still there as well. I'm not going into detail about the Sears and their history in Hazleton.
  Where was I going with this? Oh yes, the story my Dad told me about when he tired to get his Craftsman Adjustable Wrench warrantied for a new one. You see the thumb adjuster wheel on my Dad's adjustable wrench had somehow fallen out. Everyone practically knows that Craftsman Tools have a lifetime warranty. However they tried to give my Dad the runaround. Instead of exchanging the wrench for a new one, they tried to fix it. That's right, they tried to repair it instead of giving him a new wrench.
  According to my father, the Sears employee had attempted to fix the wrench by hitting the thumb adjuster wheel back into the wrench with a hammer. My father was quite annoyed at this bull that the Sears employee tried to do. My father told the employee that he shouldn't attempt to fix the wrench. The employee didn't listen to my dad at first. I remember my father telling me that the employee tried several times to place the thumb adjuster back into the hammer. My father had enough of this rigamarole from the Sears employee, that he demanded him to just give him a new adjustable wrench. The employee gave in to my father's request and exchanged the broken wrench for a new one.
  I find this story funny because this all could have been avoided if the employee would have noticed that there was a screw holding the thumb adjuster wheel in place in the wrench this all could have been avoided. You see I was going through my father's Craftsman Tools today in the garage when I noticed his 12 inch adjustable wrench. The wrench was made by JH Williams which is ironically now the industrial brand of Snap-On Tools. The wrench has a JW stamp on it. Although when this wrench was made by JH Williams, they weren't bought by Snap-On then.
   Anyway my father would later go on to buy Snap-On Tools in the 1970s to I guess the 90s as far as his business records go. I have a master list of when he purchased his Snap-On's. On that list is a Snap-On adjustable wrench. My father never had any warranty issued when it came to Snap-On tools. I believe the only time he had to wait for a replacement was for his magnetic shank for his soft grip ratcheting screwdriver. The reason being for the wait was because the Snap-On dealer was just getting started and being trained by a veteran Snap-On dealer. My dad had to wait a week for the new shank. My father didn't have a shop anymore so he had it delivered to his friends gas station. If you are wondering if we still own the Snap-On adjustable wrench, sadly we don't. We only have a handful of Snap-On tools left. I prefer the Snap-On Tools over Craftsman any day.

Well That Was Fast

  About a week ago I signed up for Team Valvoline Rewards where you can earn points to get cool merchandise. You can sign up here https://team.valvoline.com/. Anyway I wanted the hat since I love hats. I eventually did everything that I could to earn points in order to get the Team Valvoline hat. The hat was 7500 points. A little steep but you can earn a lot of points fast. You can add your cars that you have to earn points. You even get points for signing up which helps boost your start. You can take tests to earn points too. There were 2 hats that were available and one was a flat brimmed hat that said Never Idle. Both were 7500 points which is weird considering the beanie is 8000 points. Well last Sunday I redeemed my 7500 points for the hat. It said please wait 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. What is this the 1980s? Are shipping and processing this backed up with the major technological advances that we have in this glorious modern society? I was prepared to wait out the 6 to 8 weeks for my hat but I was shocked when I brought in the mail today.
  So I went to check for mail today and we got 3 packages, my brother ended up with 2 of them. The other one was mine. What was in that padded envelope for me? It was my Team Valvoline hat that I sent away for 6 days ago.
  I couldn't believe that it came with in 6 days. I don't know where or how they came up with the estimate of 6 to 8 weeks for delivery for the hat. I doubt orders would be that backed up that you have to wait 6 to 8 weeks to get your item. Still nonetheless I did get the hat without having to wait a month to get it. I'm going to save up for the other hat. I don't have enough points for it yet.

An Ultimate List of My Greatest Thrift Store Finds

  I frequently shop at thrift stores. Every time I step inside one, it's a whole new adventure. Over the many trips I have made to thrift stores, I have bought some interesting items. I never compiled a list of what were the ultimate finds but, I will try to recall all of my so called greatest finds. This list will mostly consist of various articles of clothing, a ton of hats, Toys, CD's and some oddball items. This list won't be in any particular order of when I found them. I don't remember what I paid for some of the items so I will try to remember what I had paid for them. So hold on to your butts, you are going to be amazed at my ultimate finds.

1. Vietnam War Era, US Army AG-274 Quarpel Raincoat. 
2. Vietnam War Era US Army Gabardine Overcoat.
3. Snap-On Tools RA Winter Jacket
4. Snap-On Tools Hoodie
5. Snap-On Tools Full Foam Hat from the 1980s
6. Snap-On Tools Mesh hat from the 1980s
7. Snap-On Tools Camouflage hat where the pattern consists of all tools.
8. UPS Brown Uniform Mesh Hat
9. UPS Brown  Uniform non-mesh hat 
10. FreshDirect Delivery Driver Uniform tri-season jacket.
11. Texaco Havoline down puffy vest from the 80s
12. Texaco Spring Jacket
13. A Hat autographed by Ed Kinney and the late Bruce Sarver
14. A Tide Racing hat just like the one Travis Kvapil wore
15. Forrest Gump Score Soundtrack by Alan Silvestri
16. The Punisher Score by Carlo Siliotto 
17. B-Day 2 disc deluxe edition
18. Ridge Racer for PS1
19. Hanna Soundtrack
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Cargill hat
21. Jet Moto 2 for PS1
22. A sealed CD copy of Adam Lambert's debut album For Your Entertainment
23. An official Make America Great Again hat
24. Matco Tools Racing hat
25. Crisco Racing hat from the 1980s
26. A vintage US Mail uniform hat
27. 2009 New York Yankees World Series 59Fifty
28. OneMain Financial Racing hat
29. Con-Way Central Express (CCX) Mesh hat
30. Dunbar Armored Uniform Mesh hat
31. International Trucks Eagle hat
32. Wegman's Mesh uniform hat
33. Nine Inch Nails The Slip CD
34. Nine Inch Nails Year Zero Remixed CD
35. Nine Inch Nails Lights In The Sky Tour hat
36. Castrol Edge hat
37. White Castrol GTX Hat like the one John Force used to wear
38. Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons snapback hat autographed by the mascot The Grump
39. Hummer hat
40. Mr. Peanut Baseball hat
41. Budweiser Football jersey
42. Mazda Polo shirt
43. Call 811 hat
44. Vintage Hot Wheels Stutz Blackhawk blackwall
45. Coach Bylsma Bobblehead
46. Hyundai coffee mug
47. Yuengling Pint Glass
48. 2 Cutty Sark scotch tumblers
49. A Realtor lapel pin
50. Vintage Michelin down winter jacket
51. A stress reliever shaped like a London Taxi
52. A Wells Fargo Stress Reliever shaped like a Stagecoach
53. A Car Fox stuffed animal
54. A Mattress Man stuffed animal
55. Serta Counting Sheep Plush #1
56. Serta Counting Sheep Plush #5
57. Serta Counting Sheep Plush #60
58. Texaco 1919 GMC Tanker chrome edition bank
59. Humble Oil 1925 Kenworth Tanker bank. (This bank started my truck bank collection)
60. A Saturn of Wyoming Valley Coffee Mug