Greetings from Terra!

My adventure began when I saw this notice on the front door of the local Goodwill around mid-December:




Needless to say, my plans to just goof off and kick back on New Year's Day went right out the window. Instead, I embarked on one of my patented cross-county thrift runs. With over a dozen Goodwills within a half-hour drive from home, I figured I'd find more than a few things of interest.  When the first day of 2015 was in the books, I'd logged a twelve-hour trip, driven over a hundred miles, and filled eleven blue cases with some pretty awesome swag.




First stop: the Almaden/Foxworthy Goodwill. Although its asking prices for games and hardware are rarely reasonable, it does get in a few interesting things from time to time that I'm willing to pay a little extra for...




...like these CIB Asia-region PSP games (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. Z.A.F.T. Portable, Tenchu 4, and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G) that set me back $5.99 $4.43 each.

Then it was on to the Blossom Hill/Snell location. It hadn't had much of... well, anything since it was remodeled a few months back. Today, however, was a different story...




...a not-quite-CIB Piano Discovery System for PC for $19.99 $9.80. All I need is a connector cable... and DOS Box... and probably a few adapters... and I'll be all set to rockit with John Herbie Hancock! While this pickup isn't all that... miraculous... at least it doesn't need a foot pedal.



BTW it wasn't until I was home that I discovered that it bore another price tag neither I nor the cashier had noticed:




You know what they say: never attempt to correct an error in your favor. Anyhoo, also found at the same location, setting me back $4.99 $3.72:




The adventure continued at the Capitol/Silver Creek store, where I found this for $4.99 $3.72:




And then I hit the one-oh-one and headed south to the Mecca of Garlic. There was nothing of note at the Gilroy Goodwill, but the Salvation Army store across town was a slightly different story:




An original-release CIB Ratchet Deadlocked for $3.50 to replace my Greatest Hits copy, and...




...a CIB Saitek Kasparov Cougar chess computer for $19.99.

I then drove a few miles up the road and hit the outlet mall, where I found...




...a CIB pair  New Balance 510 trail-walker shoes to replace my well-worn 605s. And what better way to break in a pair of trail-walker shoes than to hit the local hiking trails for a couple hours?




With some daylight to spare, I headed northward, eventually making it to the Cupertino store, where I grabbed:




Then it was the Mountain View Goodwill's turn, which yielded...




I gave the Empire Strikes Back mini lunchbox tin to someone I knew would get a kick out of it:




Up next was Sunnyvale, the original hometown of Atari, and the first Goodwill store I ever set foot in. This particular stop only yielded...




...a CIB copy of Descent Freespace: Silent Threat for just $1.24? Now we're talkin'. But wait, what's this disclaimer on the package?




Aw, maaaan... it's just an expansion? Well, that totally blows. Eon knows how many long hours I'll have to spend to find the main game that goes with--




Oh wait, there it is; just had to flip the box over is all. Okay, never mind.

The final stop of the day would be the Palo Alto Goodwill. Located in "the birthplace of Silicon Valley," this store has yielded many of my greatest vidya scores over the last few years. This is where I found my first Miracle Piano, my Atari 2600 Jr., my first near-CIB Dreamcast, and countless games and portable consoles. Its constant supply of the good stuff, friendly and helpful staff, and close proximity to my workplace has kept me coming back on a very regular basis. Culminating my New Year's thrifting odyssey here seemed to make all the sense in the world. And yet... it could very well have been the worst time to have come. For one thing, the place had been open for business all day, and the sun had set two hours earlier. If there had been anything there at the start of the day that I would have been interested in, surely it would have long since been sold and out the door? Undaunted, I ventured inside.

A bad omen appeared right away: the electronics showcase couldn't be unlocked because someone had misplaced the key. Inside that case, mocking me in deafening silence, was a CIB copy of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. Oh, the horror. What kind of loving God would allow this to happen, I lamented. Adding insult to injury, one of the clerks said he was sure he saw a copy of Twilight Princess for Game Cube somewhere in there. That's when I realized that there is no God.

Theological dilemmas notwithstanding, I looked around the place, hoping to find something worthy of purchase. After several minutes of fruitless searching, I conceded defeat, and headed for the exit. I was just about to open the door when I took a quick look at the front-end display case... and caught a glimpse of something. My curiosity piqued, I took a closer look, and grinned from ear to ear when I realized that I'd discovered...




...a loose limited-edition Fire Emblem Awakening 3DS with Pokemon X card? Aw hellz yeah! Now I know what you're asking yourself right now... and here's the answer:




If that isn't the greatest capper ever to an amazing thrift crawl, then I don't know what is. And if the first day of 2015 is any indication, it's gonna be

The BEST YEAR EVAR!!!11one1one1!!!1one!1!!!!


I can hardly wait to see what I'll bump into next. And I bet you can hardly wait, either. Worry not, for I'll keep you in he loop.

Until next time...


...'Late

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