I have made a grand total of 13 transactions on the ‘Bay, but have been a member for about five years. I have a sparkling 100% feedback rating. Though mentally I equate it to a worldwide swap meet, I take it seriously. There are people for whom online sales are their only source of income, and I don’t begrudge them that fact. I treat people in their online personas much as I would in a traditional brick and mortar store, with dignity and common courtesy.

There are those out there too with the exact opposite mentality – their goal is to swindle, steal from and otherwise malign the general deal-seeking community. I can also appreciate their position. Criminals are criminals. It’s easier to cheat someone out of their money than to earn your own, and then you have to deal with taxes, and online cheating ensures that at least nobody can tell what you look like. That’s why when I buy, say, an $800 bundle of “gay-rhun-teeed lee-git-a-met” design software, I only partially expect to be able to install and, dare I say, use said software. Twice over the course of my extensive Ebay résumé have my past employer or I been suckered into purchasing bootleg software, not because we’re particularly dense, but because we were intentionally deceived. Caveat emptor, I guess. A Palm Pilot I purchased was missing a key piece of functionality – the ability to connect to a computer – and the software disk was bootleg and didn’t work. The U2 Special Edition iPod had that strange rattle when you turned it slowly…suggesting that at any moment your songs were going to pour out all over the ground like so many grains of sand and blow away.
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I already know I don’t get as much sleep as I’d like, but I’m beginning to think that I don’t get as much sleep as my body needs. Here’s a slice from my own life that can help you gauge your own level of deprivation. Enjoy.
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I love to drive. I’m a driver’s driver. I’ll volunteer to drive to any event, almost any distance. I had actually volunteered to drive from Phoenix to Ohio because a friend and his family were moving and had no way to get the second car out there. They eventually found someone in their family who would make the trip, but I was game!

As with all cars, sometimes my car needs to go into the shop. When it does, I mourn for a little bit, then ride the bus to work, or to the garage, or wherever. I could find someone to give me a ride, sure, but I feel using public transportation keeps me connected to the community.

Or something.

Why not? In Chicago and Boston (two cities I’ve recently visited, so of course I’m an expert), mass transportation is they way to go. It’s cheap, relatively quick, and widespread. It’s a good way to get around without having to really deal with the other drivers.
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“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings’.” Dave Barry

Click on the thumbnail to get the big picture.