Hartford Weekend Find

Is anything more overrated than getting up early on the weekend? Whenever we get up at 8 or so on a weekend day, we start by being proud of ourselves for rising so early and "seizing the day." Then by about 11 boredom kicks in and we have to try and get creative for some good (cheap) entertainment. That's what happened this Saturday morning so we set off to drive around and explore. Our journey lead us to Main Street in sister Sad City East Hartford. There we spotted something somewhat interesting, a large tag sale in front of a church.

Those familiar with tag sales know that it is an exercise in looking at junk. We saw grossly outdated electronics, cassettes, dozens of coffee mugs, and even an unopened package of adult diapers for sale. But the real fun is finding the few hidden gems in the junk. At first we were disappointed a seller wouldn't move off her price for a cool liquor bottle with a glass stopper (we decided that liquor is fine in it's current bottle) but then we ran into the find of the day; the Whalers wastebasket.

Most who grew up in the 80's and early 90's remember these sports-themed aluminum cylinders. Identical on each side, these baskets could be purchased emblazoned with the logo of any major sports and most college teams. In our memory it seems like almost every one of our friends had one of these in their bedrooms in early adolescence.

The Whalers wastebasket was a must-have. We were rebuffed in our attempts to get the crafty owner off his price of $5. We tried for $3 stating that "the inside is a little dirty" but were told that "I know, it would be $10 if it wasn't." Beaten, we handed over the fiver and collected the prize. We can report after a thorough cleaning the Whaler basket lends a great "Hartford Retro" look to an apartment.