Crooked Kitchen

Recently the time between my posts has increased. In part, that’s due to lack of time and motivation, but the ultimate cause is lack of funds. I have lots of post ideas, but I don’t have the cash to go out and obtain the materials to make them work. Recipes I’d like to try, produce I’d like to do research on, and products I’d like to review - they’re all on the backburner until I can scrounge up enough change to fund the posts.

Starting today, and running for a week, I’ll be calling for donations. I’ve set up a permanent donations page that outlines what I’ll use the money for, and what perks you’ll receive if you help me fund my work. All donated money will go directly towards this site, and I will stay accountable by explicitly recording what the money has funded.

I ask only for a small donation - $1 can contribute to a recipe, $5 will pay for an entire single-serving recipe plus leftover ingredients, $10 will fund an entire multiple-serving recipe or a research post. If you donate, you’ll get acknowledgement and a link to your website or blog on the post that your donation made possible, and the top 5 fundraisers will have a link permanently posted on the donation page.

Please help me keep posts going. I don’t want to sound desperate. For now, my hosting costs are covered, but without more help than I’m getting, I’m afraid that my content will suffer.

As much time as I’ve spent on the Internet, I’ve never sold anything on eBay. I have bought a few things, but selling is new to me. Just this week, I finally posted my first two auctions.

I used to play Magic the Gathering. I started collecting the cards in 1997 and started playing shortly thereafter. I wasn’t very good at the game, and had no real idea of the range of value of the cards at the time. I stopped playing for a couple years, then picked it back up around 2001 and started buying newer cards. I collected and played until 2003, supporting my habit with the small local comic shop. That spring I graduated from high school and lost contact with all the people I used to play with, so I again stopped playing and collecting.

In October 2007, during a lull in my studies, I got addicted again and, now finally imbued with money, bought up a sizable number of cards. Unfortunately, I never really found anyone to play against, and all of my cards stayed in mint condition. By this point I knew more about the value of the cards, and I was able to find a price list and write scripts to price out my collection.

Now in April 2009, I find myself needing money, and looking at my collection to save me. My pricing script applied to the latest price lists tells me my collection of 340 recent rares comes out to about $425. Earlier this month I posted all the rares on CardShark, and so far I’ve sold just over $76 worth of cards. Selling off more of the less-valuable rares doesn’t look good, and I would like to monetize these cards sooner rather than later, so I’ve put the collection together and I’m selling it as one item on eBay. In addition to the rares, I’ve also tallied and posted my foil cards.

Update: The auctions have expired. The links are now dead.

I’m excited that so far the rares have 3 bids, up to $51. I’m hoping to get at least $250 for the collection, and there’s still 6 days for that to happen. There aren’t any bids on the foils yet, but it’s still early.