Back in town - successful auction fun!
Picked up a bunch of really good stuff today -- very happy with the results.
The
auction was well attended - about 150 people wandered through. It was fun too in that a bunch of these were 20 to 30 year old 'hipsters' who all knew each other. Old ProLab employees there to buy
their desk or
their workstation or other memorabilia. From what I gather overhearing their conversations, it was a really fun place to work.
Here is a crowd shot - over on the right with his head above everyone (he is standing on a cart) is Tim Murphy, son of James G. the founder. I was at another Murphy auction where Tim's son was working -- a three-generation business.
I bought two paper cutters -- an
18" RotaTrim for $60 -- they sell for $250 at B&H. Built like a tank and impossible to kill...
I also got this paper cutter for larger jobs:
A cute little Challenge 'arm-strong' unit. Back when I had my copy/print business, I had a 34 inch version that stood on the floor with a six-foot lever arm. When cutting a ream of full size paper, you had to hang your weight on that arm. These kinds of cutters are very precise and built like a tank and impossible to kill...
I also got some shelving. Our farm has a 40' by 100' hay barn and the storage inside is very chaotic and haphazard -- there is no structured shelving so I bought enough to run shelving eight feet tall and sixty feet long. This is a smaller version of the stuff that Costco uses -- it's built like a tank and impossible to kill... (Do you see a certain trend developing here?)
ProLab used to do very large enlargements (60" wide roll film) and they went directly from digital to film. Here is one of their enlargers:
Being in the room with this beast gives you the same sense as being in a room with an MRI or CAT Scanner. A very large and expensive machine (about the size of an SUV), almost no markings or control surfaces (all driven by a remote computer), in a dark and climate controlled room (positive pressure with rapid air change) and the thing is sitting there ticking, grunting and hissing to itself while deep inside, some motors spin up from time to time. They had it powered up as it was being made ready to move and it seemed almost alive. A certain palpable
entity.
I was in the presence of an artifact of high geekdom but I had neither the money (a surprising $3K) nor the space nor the S.A.F. (Spousal Approval Factor) to take it home with me... DANG!
The lab itself was large - one city block in length:
This is not the full extent of the building -- there was an entry/reception/office in back of me and a layer of rooms at the end of this one.
All in all, it was a good time. Now I have to go back Monday with a truck, hire four people to help me and load the shelving and that cutter...
Posted by DaveH at April 25, 2008 9:21 PM
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