Amazon Kindle 2

Reading has always been one of my favorite hobbies. I love learning new things and also reading about stuff that is thought provoking. Quite a few people I know always carries a good book with them. That is good and all, but how great would it be if you could carry thousands of your favorite books with you in one handy device? Think about all the book selections available. That is exactly what Amazon.com has done with their Kindle 2. This is their new and improved second version portable reading device. It is small enough to pack away nicely, yet not so small that it becomes hard to read. The device is in black and white and can store thousands of books. The battery life is great. I hear that it can last for a couple of weeks. The books themselves are available for purchase on Amazon.com usually for a lot cheaper than the physical copy. You just download them via a simple bluetooth wireless connection. I guess this works out great for everyone. The publishers save a lot of money by not having to print the books. Consumers get the book for at least 50% cheaper. Environmentalists are happy too that more trees are used for printing the books. The price for Kindle 2 is $250 brand new, which also includes free shipping. You can also go to Ebay and get it a little bit cheaper but the price is not so much cheaper that it is worth the hassle. Also, if you are big on classic novels, Ebay has a ton of ebook packages for sale. I think something like a hundred plus ebooks for $15.

Picasso Sketch

I've always admired great artworks and their famous creators. In this particular sketch, we have the work of the great Pablo Picasso. He was a famous Spanish artist in the early 20th century. His career was quite prolific and versatile. Picasso's work included over 50 thousand pieces of art. They include paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, prints, rugs, and tapestries. His most notable paintings include "Garçon à la pipe", which sold for $104 million and "Dora Maar au Chat", which sold for $95 million. At the time of his death, his estate taxes were paid to the French government with his own works of art and also those of Henri Matisse from which he exchanged art with.

I am not an art expert, but I do appreciate beautiful paintings and other artwork. Surely, I cannot afford paying millions for Picasso's paintings, but his pencil sketches are much cheaper in the four to five figure range. Take the dog sketch for instance. It is incredibly simple, but it is distinctively Picasso if you saw his other works. At the same time, the simplicity makes it seem like a child could draw it, but wouldn't it be a good conversation piece to have in the home? You friends can ask, "so did your kid draw that for you at school?" Your response, "if you mean my kid is Picasso, then yes" and then have a nice laugh. By the way, this pencil sketch cost $6,000. If you have that kind of money as spare change, you may decide to buy it. As nice as it would be to have a Picasso original, it is definitely too pricey for my budget. I will opt for a nice Picasso print instead.

Retro Air Jordan V Shoes

Nike Jordan V Retro Shoes are perhaps the greatest basketball shoes ever created. It was released in 1990 with much fanfare. Of course it is fitting that the best looking basketball shoes were created for the best basketball player in the world, Michael Jordan. He played with the utmost determination, ambition, and grace. He would play through pain and sickness and accomplished what no other basketball player ever will. His name will forever be synonymous with basketball.

I have a couple pairs of Jordans including Jordan I and III, but I have to say that Jordan V is the best and sleekest design. It is featured in a variety of colors including white/blue, red/white, green/white, and black/red. I think the black and red ones are the coolest. The tongue of the shoes is made of a reflective silver metallic material that glistens when light hits it. The sides of the shoe has a clear mesh with a red lightning bold on the side. You can also see the number 23, which is Jordan's number. The bottom is transparent as well with the Nike air cushion showing. A clear bottom sole was quite innovative at the time, but the drawback was that it grew yellow over time. The Retro Jordan Vs also had a base top with lace locks, which made strapping on the shoes quite easy. These shoes were remade and released in 2009. It quickly sold out.

On Ebay, you can always find these shoes. It ranges in price from $100 to $300. I am guessing some of them have to be counterfeit from China. The best way to combat getting ripped off is just to buy from a reputable seller with a high number of good feedback.

Smoking Monkey Novelty Toy

Of all my friends, very few of them recall playing with the smoking monkey novelty toy. Each smoking monkey includes ten cute little cigarettes that can be smoked by the monkey and not humans. I have to put that pre-qualifier so that no one actual is dumb enough to smoke them. Actually, the cigs are just unscented incense wrapped in paper. It does not contain tobacco nor is it toxic. I used to have one when I was a kid. These toys were dirt cheap, maybe around $.10 as I remember. Some of my friend bought tons of these little toys and its never ending amusement. We used to rip the toy out of the package with excitement and put the cigarettes into the monkey's mouth, light it up, and watch in amazement how the monkey would smoke. Isn't that the coolest thing? Well maybe not, but when you are 9 or 10 years old, a lot of things seem amusing. Hence, they say "simple minds easily amused". But seriously, how do they get the monkey to puff those cigarettes? Maybe they have some kind of mechanism in the toy that blows out air and creates the allusion that the monkey is smoking.

Well it is time to revisit that nostalgia. I quickly head over to Ebay and search "smoking monkey". Quite a few listings come up. There is actually several choices. You have the 1960s version which is quite crude and made of plastic. This one cost around $7. The other one is the more recent toy made of ceramic and higher quality with a more detailed look. The better version comes at a higher price: $23. I'm going to opt for the old school version that I grew up with and save a few bucks.

www.DomainPageRank.com

We usually go onto Ebay to find second hand gifts, electronics, perfume, collectibles, or just about anything. You name it and they have it. But how about an internet business? It is something I never anticipated on bidding for. The website is called www.DomainPageRank.com. It is not just a domain name. It actually makes some decent money. Before we get into the financials, let's talk about what it does.

DomainPageRank.com checks a website's Google PageRank. PageRank is an algorithm that the Google folks created to determine how popular a website is based on the number of other websites linking to it. DomainPageRank.com also shows a website's total links. Now why you ask does a person want this information? Well really it is for internet marketers. It helps them to see the progress they have made in building links, which helps with ranking for certain keywords. There is certainly big money in ranking for good keywords.

Now to the money part. This website pulls in $1,000 per month from various sources including Google Adsense, hosting affiliates, and selling ad space. The owner was looking for $14,000 USD for this baby. This is a relatively high price to pay for internet business. I actually put in a $9,000 bid, but threw in the towel after the reserve still wasn't hit.

Update: The website is a parked page now that belongs to someone else. Seems like the owner forgot to renew the domain. A big oops for the former owner.

Garbage Pail Kids Adam Bomb

Garbage Pail Kids stickers were created in the mid 80s from Topps as a way to entertain kids and their love of all things gross. The sticker cards contained 22 series It came in a wax pack with a stick of gum with 10 stickers, much like a pack of baseball cards. The stickers featured a mock of Cabbage Patch Dolls doing something crude and always amusing. This was because Cabbage Patch Dolls were very popular at the time. The cards were distributed to several different countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Chile, Holland, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Australia, and New Zealand.

Probably the most recognizable sticker card of all the collection is Adam Bomb. The sticker card shows a kid with a detonation device and the top of his head blowing up. I'm not sure why everyone likes this card the most because its not rare at all, but nowadays everyone now identifies Garbage Pail Kids by this one sticker.

Anyways, I still think the card is pretty cool and would look great next to my other odd ball collection of junk. I stroll over to Ebay to check out how many listings there are. There are quite a few and range in price from $10 to $100. Why the big range? Well there are a couple that are graded in mint condition and that can sky rocket the price. My only decision is whether or not to get a graded version. I guess the only reason to get the graded version is to know that I got a mint condition version and that it is encased and protected forever.

IWC Pilot's Watch

After Rolex watches, IWC Pilot's Watch is probably my most favorite time piece. IWC stands for International Watch Company, a watch maker that originated in Switzerland. However, the company was started by an American named Florentine Ariosto Jones. The company was founded in 1868 so it knows a thing or two about making quality time pieces. In particular, IWC watches are known for their movements.

That brings us to the IWC Pilot's Watch. In the 1900's, flying airplanes was quite hip. However, the high altitude posed a challenge to watch makers to keep their watches' time accurate.
In response, IWC put shatter resistant glass, a rotatable bezel, and anti-magnetic movements to counter the effects of flying in high altitudes.

IWC was not the only watch maker to create watches designed fro aviation, but they certainly were known for the best pilot's watches with their classic look and innovative features.

Anyways, the reason why I love this watch so much is because it has a simple yet elegant look. The watch dial in particular is simple enough so that it is very easy to tell time with. Honestly, I never even heard of IWC before seeing in the movie "Vanilla Sky" with Tom Cruise. The only thing that I do not like about this watch is that it has a leather strap. Yes, it looks fine, but replacing a $XXX strap every year or so kind of hurts the wallet. I went on Ebay to look for this watch. While there were quite a few available, I was hesitant to buy it because it seems overpriced. I do a quick check on Google's Froogle price comparison tool and I find some legitimate online watch retailers selling it for around $2,500. Then on Ebay, I find people claiming the watch sells for $4000 and they are only looking for $2,300 for a used one. Well for that price, I rather pay a couple hundred dollars more and get a new IWC Pilot's watch.