A little over two years ago I ended up with four jukeboxes. I originally only wanted one. Actually, I originally only wanted an empty one, inside which I could mount a PC that would play MP3s and have the appearance of being a working jukebox. The guy who was selling me the empty had another jukebox that he could throw in, but could make me a better deal if I bought two, and a really good deal if I bought three. Over $1,000 later, I was the proud (?) owner of four jukeboxes — three working ones and the empty one I had originally set out to purchase.

As fate would have it, by the time I got the machines back from Kansas to Oklahoma and plugged them in, two of the three had stopped working. I had seen them working before I purchased them so I know fixing them couldn’t have been difficult, but all the wiggling and jiggling I performed did nothiing. I sold the one working one and made some of my money back, but the other two just sat. I talked to the seller who gave me some fixing tips, but nothing worked. For over two years, the three wooden monsters sat taking up a large portion of my garage.

I never installed a PC in the empty one and I never got the other two working. Earlier this summer I ran an ad for them on eBay. They didn’t sell. I tried selling them on Craig’s List — same results. Eventually I put them up for sale for $100 each. No dice.

Eventually I found someone who thinks he can fix them, and offered me a couple of arcade related items (a monitor and a nice cabinet) in trade. I’m sure I’m taking a huge financial hit, but I’m okay with it at this point. I never wanted to be in the jukebox business, and as of 5pm today, I’m officially out of it. This afternoon I delivered all three jukeboxes to a fellow coin-up fan and picked up the other items in trade. The items I got are worth less than the jukeboxes would be if they were functioing, but worth than what I’ve been able to move them for.

If there’s one thing I’m starting to realize as I get older, it’s how to recognize projects that I’m never going to finish, or even start.