Auctions in California range as they do across the nation, but maybe in more concentrated numbers.  At any given time in any month and on any day, year-round (thanks to fairly temperate and mild weather, usually) one can find auctions in California that offer airplanes, antiques, cars and trucks, boats and other recreational vehicles, electronics and technological equipment, houses and furniture, and collectibles.

GENERAL AUCTIONS in CALIFORNIA

A common tendency of those in the know is to attend estate sales, recurring auctions, and, especially, police and government auctions in California:  the latter involve foreclosed, bankruptcy, and liquidation items, which can be had for pennies on the dollar. (Or, in some cases, for a dollar!  I just recently read about a prefabricated house that was for sale for one dollar, provided the new owner moves the home him- or herself!)

Consider a sample schedule of auctions in California, and tell me you can’t find anything and everything:  next week, for example, there is an auction of estate contents and the items of consignors; a historic Chapel Hill estate auction; a real estate auction; an antiques and collectibles auction; an auction of office furniture and fixtures; a farmland auction; an auction and subsequent appraisal session; a household auction; an auction selling off the contents of a screen-printing and clothing manufacturing plant/conglomerate;  another business auction; a hydro and CN rail vehicle equipment auction; and several auto auctions in California as well as in neighboring locales.

OTHER AUCTIONS in CALIFORNIA

There are also art, empty warehouses, racehorses, natural resources, stocks and bonds, and used items sales turned auctions.  EBay is a good example of an auction venue that really offers all of the above and more, much more….

THE AUCTION PROCESS

You have likely seen an auction scenario in the movies or on TV, probably set in a humorous context where the attending person accidentally bids on (and wins) a diamond-studded ceramic cat.  But the process is not that daunting:
1. An item or commodity or collection is “offered”, is “up for bid.” (The “owner” of the item pays a percentage to the auction house for the privilege.)  The items to be auctioned off are usually listed/depicted in a catalogue or brochure, which attending buyers receive when they pay their auction entry (admission) fee.  [You can get a discount of sorts by becoming a member of a particular auction—paying a yearly fee that will offset/eliminate the individual admissions fee(s).]

2. The one offering will either determine a minimum or reserve—an amount that must be met before the item will be let go—or will establish no minimums or reserves.
3. The price is decided by the bidders, people in the audience who offer an amount and compete (usually) with others doing the same thing.

4. The item is “sold” when the last bid is called in, written in, or gestured in (with those paddles you have seen or with a nod, etc.)…and no one else raises the bid amount.

I have friends who swear by auctions in California (and on ebay, of course), claiming that every time they “buy” something this way, they save big bucks.  Your turn.

Have you ever wondered about all those “as seen on tv” ads and the claims of those products? Most people I know think that those “as seen on tv” products are all gimmicks. If those products were really legitimate, than why can’t I get them at my neighborhood Wal-Mart or some other store?

If they are as fantastic as the TV ad says, why is it that this “as seen on tv” product is only available by calling in an order or going to the products website?

I had my own “as seen on tv” experience this Christmas. I was given a gift. Some friends had bought the “as seen on tv” flashlights. These are the flashlights that never need batteries, can get run over by a car, float in water, are waterproof. In short, they are the miracle you were always waiting for.

I must admit, when I saw the TV commercial, I was very skeptical. So when I opened this gift, I really was quite speechless. Was this a joke, or was it for real?

Let me tell you a little about my “as seen on tv” flashlights. They really don’t need batteries. You just shake them and the energy from your motion changes into electrical energy and is stored in a capacitor inside the flashlight. Turn the flashlight on, and you have light until the stored energy is used up. If the light starts dimming, shake again a little.

Wow! They really are waterproof. They are totally sealed. There is no battery compartment to open up and the light should last for thousands of hours of use. I must confess though, that I haven’t yet laid the flashlight on the ground and tried to drive over it. However, the housing of my “as seen on tv” flashlight is very sturdy. I think it just might survive.

My “as seen on tv” product is not perfect. The light doesn’t last forever and I don’t like to keep shaking just to be able to see. And yet, I have the perfect place for this light in my car. If I am ever stuck in the dark, I can be assured that I will always have some light easily available.

I still don’t understand why “as seen on tv” products are only available with a phone call or an internet site visit. I do know this, my experience showed that the product really was legitimate and did what was claimed in the TV commercial.

I am utterly devoted to the written word, and just as respectful of the online written word, as a person invested in the technical world, as one who religiously enhances her knowledge of freelance writing technique(s), for improving my nonfiction craft, for evolving as a contemporary off- and online writer, and as one who is a lifetime learner. 

So one of the best benefits of the net(among many) for me is getting to buy magazines online, subscribing to a technical journal or newsletter or whatever else contributes to my repertoire. 

I can consult a writer’s guide, troubleshoot or tweak my pc, or get pertinent materials from sources featured. I can buy magazines online that have everything to do with improving as a thinker, as a person, as a woman, and I can get mags that contribute to my need for much entertainment and information on popular (not political—ick) culture.

That is when I buy magazines online I know I am not limited to getting work materials, not limited to that which is technical.  Entertainment, self-help, fashion, news, and hundreds of other subject areas make for great reading (reading that you don’t have to study), as does online literature and as do humor columns and articles, blogs, and other brilliant music, art, and cultural publications. 

There are external benefits, too, to buying magazines online, those that prevent you from having to deal with a pushy telemarketer, or a surly, snotty-nosed brick-and-mortar store clerk.

Okay, so I extol the virtues of the ezine, of getting your magazine subscriptions via the worldwide web.  But I should also mention a few caveats, for those of you who are wary or who want to buy magazines online but  have never done such an interaction via the net before.

Beware the “you have a pre-paid or free magazine subscription coming to your home…” and you didn’t even ask for it!  The trick is you will be expected to pay a “processing fee,” which, hmmm, is more than the cost of the year’s subscription…that, by the way, you might never receive.

Know Your Rights:  You have the right to clear and real contact info—a street address, a company name, even a real representative, and a phone number.

You have the right to a well defined list of billing policies and procedures, regarding the duration of the magazine subscription, regarding the number of issues in one subscription, regarding your cancellation rights.

After you are a subscriber: You have the right to check the expiration date (on your magazine subscription label) and the subsequent right to reject an offer to renew which is made not by the magazine but by an unrelated, unaffiliated company scamming you for extra cash. 
Anyway.  It’s prime time on a weekday night here, so I am off to find a subscription to a good reality TV magazine, one I can get online without having to climb out of this warm and cozy bed in the warm and cozy house, which is getting pelted with the cold and dreary blizzard of winter rains.

See?  There’s ANOTHER bennie.

Air force records and other records of military service are carefully preserved by the government. I know, because my grandfather was a pilot in world war two and we are all very proud of him, but for a while, he was a mystery.

My dad was young when his father died, and did not really know how he died or when. His mother was already dead, and so he couldn’t ask her, and there were no other older relatives to ask. So we submitted for his air force records and found all kinds of information.

The most interesting part of it was just how highly decorated he was. He had a purple heart as well as some fascinating star shaped pendant that said “for noble service in the cause of liberty”. We knew right away  that he had done an amazing job, and we figured that perhaps he had died in the service of his country, being shot down over Germany.

As we read through his air force records, we found out that this wasn’t quite the case and that the truth was far more complicated than that.

In fact, he had been stationed in England, fighting alongside the RAF – the Royal Air Force, in the battle of Britain, one of the most famous air battles of all time. He had flown over 200 missions in just a few short years, and been shot down at least twice, and once landing with shrapnel in his leg, bleeding badly and only just barely able to make it on to the runway before he passed out, but he had survived every mission, and had shot down many enemy planes, defending the allies and freedom. I

n fact, it seemed like he would survive the war.

He had a charmed life according to air force records. Many times everyone around him would be destroyed, while he would limp back to the base, his plane badly damaged but still flying. In neither of his crashes did he receive so much as a scratch, and he was quickly found by friendly forces and returned home. Yet bad luck did eventually find him, ironically on the eve of VE day, the day when the allied forces triumphed over the Germans.

He was not in the air at all, but drinking with friends, coming back from the canteen in high spirits, knowing thtat the war would soon be over, and that he was part of the reason why, when, of all things, he stumbled upon an unexploded British munition.

His friends were slightly injured, but he was killed almost instantly. To this day, we still honor his memory through air force records.