Rev. Steve Chekey had the biggest house and yard and the biggest collection of the most kinds of weird THINGS of ANY SubGenius that I know. Our friends and a lot of Pinks spent the afternoon getting cool furniture and gizmos for next to nothing, but Princess Wei and I -- Princess Wei and I rooted through the piles of Steve's "TRASH" that the auction people had thrown in dumpsters, strewn across his yard in plastic bags, or left under piles of clothes in rooms of the house.

We found his videotapes, his slides, his photos, some unsent letters to friends, his CDRs, his audio recordings. (I even found a whole bunch of tapes and CDs that I had given or sold him!) All that archaeological treasure was about to be ruined -- quite literally, as it had started RAINING on everything about the time we felt finished with our rooting and looting. The Princess scooped up hundreds of his photos that were scattered across the yard, just starting to become rain-soaked. Drying them used up much of the furniture in our house, but made for spectacular decor temporarily. (As seen in photos, below.)

We think we found all Steve's videos of all the A.C.E. and SubGenius (and Crash Worship and Cleveland Performance Art Fest) events of the last 14 years. Talk about miracles. Wei likes to think that Steve's spirit directed us to find his MOST valuable stuff, but I like to think we just used plain common sense and BOTHERED TO EVEN LOOK. Steve was in the Skeptic's Club, so his ghost probably agrees with me that there's no life after death except what you leave behind for your buddies. Personally I do not believe in ghosts, possibly because I am sure I would be AFRAID of ghosts if any ever came around.

Steve left his best stuff RIGHT WHERE *WE* HIS FELLOW SUBGENII WOULD FIND IT!! In the TRASH.

I would much rather it still be lost, and Steve be around, but hey. Fair is where you take your pig and hope you win a prize. Today I feel like my pig won a prize for a change!