Pats Short Circuit Against Indy

In a night that needed no help with hyperbole most Pats fans found themselves at a loss for words by this games final act. After watching New England control the game for 3 quarters it all came down to 1 play with just over 2 minutes in the game. It was one of the game’s greatest coaches and one of the game’s greatest players having to execute when the game mattered most. And they did, and they lost. In the post game press conference Tom Brady kept referring to this being “a game of inches” and as Kevin Faulk bobbled the ball, collected it and was hit those inches needed evaporated into thick air. Was Belichick wrong for going for it on 4^th and 2, up by 6? If you think about what most coaches would do you would have to assume that it was the wrong call. You punt the ball, pin them in their territory and put it on your defense to try to stop Peyton Manning. But what if you had one of the game’s greatest quarterback with two of the league’s best wide receivers and one of the most reliable backs in franchise history? What if you knew you could get 2 feet at any time in the game and when you needed it most you only got 1 and a half? Would your choice be considered wrong? Probably. I haven’t listened to sports radio today or read the newspaper (Every time my team loses or the Yankee’s win I avoid the media for a day or 2) so I don’t know what the masses are saying. I’m sure our colorful New England constituents have quite a bit to say on this matter. Last night on Channel 7 I watched Steve Burton conduct an interview with TE Ben Watson right after the game. He started with a question about “how do you lose this game?” and as he continued to contextually describe his question it became a rant in which Ben Watson prompted him as Burton paused to breath, “go on”. I knew the feeling he was going through. It was one where an answer wasn’t going to really answer anything and the only real relief was to ask “why” this tragedy had happened. Yet that pain from past disappointments didn’t seem to equal the utter shock experienced by this finish. It was the ultimate loss yet it happened in the middle of a season that still looks fraught with opportunity. They had beaten the Colts for 58 minutes with an array of weapons and from great play from the offensive line. They were on the road and were within an inch of pulling off an incredible win in a hostile environment. I for one would rather see my team lose a game with a chance to seal the victory on their own then put it in the hands of the other guy and hope you just hold on. If you had Michael Jordan on your team and the other team had Lebron James and there were 7 seconds left in the game, would you: A) Want to be up by 1 with your opponent and Lebron having the last chance to shoot. Or B) Have possession, be down by 1 but have MJ taking the final shot. Now if there is a difference for you in regards to MJ of King James, switch it so that the better of the two is on your team. For me it’s MJ taking that last shot because it is a better decision then trying to stop Lebron. This is what Belichick had to have been thinking (though probably without the NBA analogy). So while the Patriots may have short circuited and let this one get away, knowing this is a game of inches I’ll take my guys every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

1/4 Of My Household Income 2nd Installment

This 2nd installment (1st installment) on how to make some extra money on the side. We will cover buying and selling product. By product I mean anything that you are knowledgeable about, in my case its art, music memorabilia and other odds and ends that some people might just throw out or give away. But product can be anything from car parts to dolls (not my forte).

Lets start with art. In art the less there are of the product the better so if there is only 1 that is the best and if there are 400 that is still good, 2,000 is ok if it is a high demand artist or print but over 5,000 you are usually only buying the art because you really like it, not to make money down the road. I buy art because I like it and to make money. There are a few new artists that are affordable and their resale go up right away. Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant) is the 1st one I will mention and one of favorite artists. If you can score one of his limited prints from his web sight when they go on sale, your print will double in price immediately. They usually range from $50-$100. Make sure its a screen print and not a lithograph. Most of his limited edition screen prints sell out in under 1min so like buying tickets timing is everything. Your best resale margin is after 3-5 years so look at it as an investment. I have sold many right away because I needed the money so only hang on to them if you can.

The 2nd artist I will mention is Emek . He is not as famous as Obey but his art still sells at a good margin and I would hang it on my wall (Not all but some). Both Obey and Emek do a lot of work for musicians and that is how I have come to know them.

Anyone selling anything on the internet now has a store page , make sure to bookmark this page. Subscribe to their e-mail list. Emek will always send an e-mail before a print goes on sale and there will always be a set time. Obey on the other hand will hardly ever send out an e-mail and only give a date of the sale not a time. I check Obey's web sight once a day to see if any new items will go on sale soon. There is a program that costs $50 called UpdatePatrol that allows you to save a web page and whenever that web page makes a change it lets you know...so if Obey is selling a new print and UpdatePatrol is running it will let you know when the print is up for sale. Otherwise you sit there and refresh your page for 6 hours.

Here is a print I just got bought as I was typing ($55) and here is how much it is going for now. I will keep mine for awhile. Saving this art also makes great presents, if you are tight on cash, just bust out a print.

Another artist that sells like mad is Jack White. He is always releasing limited stuff. The most limited stuff he only release at his Nashville store so I thought to myself how would I get these...and then it came to me. Post an add on CraigsList in Nashville for someone to pick them up for me and I will pay them $20 an hour for their time (PayPal makes this easy). I now have 3 people picking me up items in Nashville and sending them to me. I completed the 1st round of the Tri-colored set and just sold it for $2,600. I paid $600 total. Not bad considering.

Overall limited art and memorabilia sells the best for me but it could be anything just do your research 1st. Things like comics and baseball cards are past their glory days so I stay away from those.

Stay tuned for the 3rd installment if you like free trips and TVs.