Abacus ... not Abacab

Abacus ... not Abacab

It is rare for me to go to yard sales. I do not need other peoples' junk when I have spent years winnowing down my own to a manageable level, thank you very much ...

On May 31, Pizza Guy and I hung out for the afternoon leading up to the Brazil soccer match at Qwest and I found myself at a yard sale he wanted to go to. Being as he was driving and I had nothing better to do I decided to actually get out of the car and see why he wanted to go to this sale ...

There was a table of books; and I cannot resist at least perusing the books at friends' homes, let alone a table of books for a buck. I found a book on my reading list, the reading list of books I know I need to look for but rarely get to that is tattered and years old and needs rewriting. So, I bought the book for a buck. It was a deal too, originally two bucks, but they had marked down the book table because of weather and the progression of the day. She told me it would be fifty cents, but I talked her back up to that dollar.

But, we didn't leave. We hung around and chatted. Nothing wrong with that. Again, we had time to kill. Sheer morbid curiosity led me to glance at other items. Then, I saw it. Another item for a buck. I bought it. This sale was costing me money. But, I was convinced it was not junk, because it still had a ten dollar tag from the store from which it was purchased years earlier. It was clearly never used for the purpose originally intended, likely opened once and put away in fact. So, I peeled off another buck and bought it. Now, I had spent the two dollars I would have spent on the book from my reading list had I not gotten there late in the day when it was raining. I was a mighty bargain hunter.

And, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use the damn thing. Can anyone help me?