My accountant calls it “research”: Going to concerts, buying music, even seeing films can be tax deductible. So, for “research” I decided to catch Barry Manilow at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City, the town of my birth. Amy had to work, my fellow Manilow fanatics were otherwise engaged (and tickets were expensive), so I decided to see the show “solo”. And, indeed, available tickets were scarce, so I decided to look for tickets on Craig’s List.

Let’s start at the beginning. Amy was invited to represent the Tribeca Film Institute at Docs By The Sea, a film conference in Bali. So we planned a two week vacation around it, though Amy would be working for the first part of it. It’s the day before our long flight to Bali, and Amy is unable to check me in. Finding this strange, she calls Delta. Apparently, I can’t go to Bali because my passport expires within six months. Well, this is just a heck of a thing to find out THE DAY BEFORE WE LEAVE.

This is a story that starts with a wristwatch purchase and ends with me owning a rare, vintage Czech electric piano.  “When in Prague”, my friend Cathy wrote, “check out Bric A Brac Antiques. It’s full of bric-a-brac and the owner is a Serbian man who is married to a Croatian woman”. When traveling, Amy and I always look for vintage stores, thrift stores, record stores and any place that might have some obscure vintage instruments. I had found a record store, but no luck with vintage instruments. Cathy’s recommendation was perfect, so we added it to our Saturday plan. I have to say Prague Antiques did not disappoint. The store was chock-a-block with cool knick knacks from the communist era.