I picked up Ben Munson this afternoon for a little foray out to Wacky Willy’s surplus emporium on the edge of the industrial sector of NW Portland. (Same deal as the Axman chain of retail wonders back in sweet home Minneapolis…) We scoured the joint, tracing the our signature hunting paths. We agreed to meet–with a series of coded hang signals–by the “interesting adhesive random sign numbers+letters” bins. Some chatter ensued. Many purchases had been made out of these sacred bins, by many walks of life.

I passed this time around. I made my way out, empty-handed. Ben jumped in line, patiently waiting to check out. Once he made his way outside–as I leaned on Big S–we had “post game” chat about the aforementioned odd lot of adhesive characters.

With a couple of loose-lipped threats, we were back inside, ready to go to war. Just before he left, in a moment of angled strategy, Ben offered the young lady behind the counter a juicy number for the whole mess. When he came out and parlayed the news to me, something inside me snapped and I knew–absolutely knew–we were gonna make her a deal that she couldn’t pass up.

I guess she offered Ben the larger of two bins for 35 bucks. Not bad. But why settle for only one bin when we can fight for both? I looked the tattooed punker right in the eye, did a little sweet-talkin’ and said, “Tell you what, how about 45 bucks for the whole damn lot!”

She squinted a bit, pondered and leaned in a little closer: “Uh, how about… 50 bucks?”

“We got a deal.” I proclaimed and we were outta there.

Stay tuned, all readers of these words will have access to these treasures, that is, once Ben and I finish the delicate sorting process.

Unbelievable score. Decades of adhesive enjoyment. Small numbers. Visceral colors. Not really useful for anything. Big waste of money. Giant fun.