A Fond Farewell

My day started this morning at about 3:30 AM. I did the usual things that I do when I'm awake at such an awful hour: meandering around the house, looking out all the windows in case it was actually the subsonic sounds of undead zombie horrors screaming for my brains, disturbing the cats.

Having found that the house still had the same layout as it did when I went to bed and a complete lack of zombie horde, I sat down at the kitchen table with the laptop and one of aforementioned disturbed cats and checked the email.

And checked.

And checked.

It turns out that there are still a rather large number of people that haven't seen it yet.

I flipped over to Twitter, and was pleasantly surprised to see that there were even more people following me.  Which then lead to a momentary lapse into panic when I considered that it took me 800 words to sell a snowblower, what the heck am I supposed to do in 140 characters?

Snowblower 4sale, runs good, $900, Pls share with all UR friends so I can become Internet Famous.

I start searching for sites that have posted the ad, just to get a feel for what they're saying.  Makes me happy.  I send out some emails to folks that were kind, and then flip back over to the blog to see how the hits are going. They are going very well, in that way that I had more traffic yesterday than I've had combined since I started doing really terrible sports predictions.  (Yes, that's what I said - you can go back and look at the early posts, but I'll be honest and say I have no idea how I kept that up for so long.)

As an aside, I got some really awesome responses to a few of the emails I sent out, and I realize I'm sitting on a treasure trove.  I have hundreds of emails, some of them are insanely awesome and others are just awesomely insane.   When the dust starts to settle a little more, and I've had time to breath, I may start posting some of them (sans email addresses - STAY BACK FOUL INTERNET SCAM HOUNDS!).

We have to run this morning.  Not only is today the day I officially become a proud owner of a Snowblower sized hole in the shed, but we are also getting snow tires put on the car so we have to get out to the dealership and still be able to get to work on time.  It doesn't quite work that way.

It never quite works out that way.

Big thanks go out to Rodney, who set us up with his demo so I'd be able to get back and forth from work to the BIG SNOWBLOWER GIVEAWAY event at the house.  Rodney says he'd do it for any of his customers, and it's not because we've known each other for years.  I tend to believe it's the power of my Internet Fame, and Rodney agrees that it's pretty interesting after I explain what's going on.  I am an unstoppable juggernaut of Internet Fame. 

Shoot, unstoppable juggernaut would have fit in perfectly into the ad.  

At work, I have a minute to check out my front page story (cough cough shameless plug cough cough), and to read Alec's column which is a delight.  Just before lunch, I drive back to the house and have just enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair and get the snowblower out of the shed when TRAGEDY STRIKES.  

It's easy to understand when you think about it.  The Snowblower and the Shed had been together for so long.  They'd probably become best buds, wiling the days and nights away with stories about staying in one place or blowing snow around.  Some would say that the door simply blew shut, but I think maybe there just might have been a little magic in the air.  In any case, just as I was pushing the Snowblower out for the last time the door slammed on my hand, catching it at just the angle needed to give me the most horrendous scratch.  

It might not look like much, but believe me, it was bleeding and everything.  

One hand was injured in the making of this motionless picture.
No sooner was I bandaged than this showed up in front of the house.

I'm referring to the truck and the bin, not the tree.
Meet Chris and Jeremy of Junk Away.  As Alec put it later, writers are not known for heavy lifting.  They were super nice, and I'd probably use them myself in the future if it wasn't for the fact I seem to have a knack now for getting other people to take my stuff away.  

They have no idea why this is happening.
Alec and his lovely wife arrived, followed by Dave Bell from CTV.  We set up and Dave went into high gear, grilling us on the minutiae of the deal, who was involved, where the paper trail leads, really blowing the doors wide open on my conspiracy to traffic 4 year old labour to clear snow in Moncton. But he agreed to this picture with me, so all was forgiven.

If this writing thing doesn't pan out, my other talent is taking pictures of myself with people.
He talked to Alec...

Pay no attention to the dalmatian. 
Then he talked to me.

I didn't take a picture of him talking to me, so I'm rerunning this one.  Remember it?  Good times.
Then we signed the snowblower...

Alec checking out the near mint "Murray" label before he signs.

I just dive right into it.  Here's a secret: it's the worst signature I've ever signatured.

And since it's not mine anymore, I vandalize the hell out of it by writing
"THE INTERNET FAMOUS SNOWBLOWER" on it.
And your momma's phone number.
Yes, I know pictures of the signage would have been good too, but we were just going with the flow.  (Thanks to Viv for taking these pictures!)

Alec took possession of the snowblower and wheeled it on down to the truck, where Chris and Jeremy took over.

See folks?  This is what good Kijiji behaviour is about:
If the ad says "you have to pick it up", YOU HAVE TO PICK IT UP.

Oh crap, he sees me!

So that's how that works.

Jeremy hogged the ride until they had to leave, so I never got a turn.

I know what you're thinking.  Yes, I do have awkward hands.

And then they all left, taking my plucky little snowblower with them.  

All in all, it was a good day.

Comments

  1. Hey, Weh-Ming,
    Congratulations on the sale and subsequent pick up of your snow blower. Now you are going to have a small party in the space left barren by your departed pal. Wish I were there. Update from me, roof remaining in place 1 day and counting, less cranky and less likely to kill someone, partner still willing to sleep with me and still smiling from your ad.
    Cheers from Calgary, Gossamer.

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  2. @Gossamer - If you ever find yourself in Moncton, you let me know and we'll have a shed party. Anything I can do to continue to promote relationship bliss while containing murderous rage is a worthwhile endeavour. :)

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  3. Loving your blog. :) But I still don't know who Greg from Australia is. I know. I should be able to find it. But I have a job too, so I can't just sit around searching all day. I'm going to make up my own story about Greg from Australia, I think.

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  4. I'm a little sad that the snowblower is gone. It's the end of an era.

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  5. And to think what one guy did with one red paper clip traded it up until he got a house in saskatachewan free.

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  6. @Holly - Don't think of it as an ending. Think of it as the beginning of the part where it's over.

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  7. If that reply was a comment on Facebook, I'd 'like' it.

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  8. Congratulations!!!

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