The high bid for the Thinkpad was $276.01. My little silent auction drew six bids. There was a tie for the high bid ($250) so I gave the high bidders an chance to submit another bid. Mary went up to $275 and Myra bid $276.01. I think that’s a fair price for the Thinkpad but I’ll hold on to the check for a few days, just in case she gets Buyer’s Remorse. Then it’s off to the local Humane Society. Thanks to all who submitted bids. Sorry, Henry, but this was a lot more fun than eBay.
Category Archives: Personal History
Transaction declared null and void
A week ago I mentioned that I was selling my Thinkpad (IBM laptop) on eBay. Actually, my pal Henry was kind enough to list it on his eBay account. He told me not to expect much for a 3 year old laptop, so we were all surprised when the high bid topped out at $809! Too good to be true? Yes, it was.
This morning eBay posted a notice that said the transaction was null and void. Not sure why. I didn’t read it closely and Henry says he’s never seen that happen before.
Henry (a deacon in the First Church of eBay) wanted to re-list the laptop but I’ve decided to go a different direction.
After listing the computer on eBay, I discovered that a few people at work were interested in buying it (if the price were right). So, I’ve decided to hold a “silent auction.” I’m going to post a photo and specs on the bulletin board at work and invite anyone that’s interested to submit a sealed bid. On Friday, I’ll open the bids and the computer goes to the highest bidder. Done.
Record everything, post everything
In March of this year, I posted audio of a speech by Jan Hindman, author of “There Is No Sex Fairy. For 34 years, Ms. Hindman studied and researched the problem of sexual abuse, working with both sexual offenders and sexual victims through mental health endeavors, the educational realm, as well as private practice.
She was a keynote speaker at a conference organized by one of our clients. I was so impressed by her intelligence and wit that I posted the audio here at smays.com.
Today I received an email from her niece, letting me know that Jan Hindman passed away suddenly a few days ago. She found my post (and the audio) with a Google search:
“…it has been very comforting to hear her voice. It made me smile to hear her wonderful messages and her great sense of humor one more time. She was so very special.”
This kind of thing happens more than you might expect. And it’s one of the things I like best about blogging. As far as I know, the speech I posted might be the only one (by Ms. Hindman) online. I hope other friends and admirers find –and take some comfort– from it.
iMac Update
I’ve done my share of gushing about the MacBook Pro and, more recently, the beautiful new iMac. So it’s only fair I share some of the rough spots I’ve encountered the last few days.
Firefox is crashing like crazy on OSX. Almost unusable. Same for Photoshop. Not sure what’s happening but look forward to getting it sorted out.
Phil has me set up with XP running on VMware and I’m suffering from mild schizophrenia, trying to move back and forth from Windows (for Outlook, mostly) and OSX. I finally just closed the win version of Outlook and started getting email via the Exchange server (when I could keep Firefox running).
I’m sure I’ll get the hang of this but trying to live in both worlds is challenging. Once we get the crashes under control (I know, I know)… I plan to spend as much time in Mac Land as possible and I’m hoping that makes things easier.
But I’m in for the duration. My experience on the MacBook Pro has been delightful and I’d like to have that warm glow at work, too. That’s gonna take some fiddling and some mental adjustment on my part.
Now Buddy can go steady again
I received the following email last week:
“My name is Mike McGuire. While camping at Lake Wapapello a few years ago, I came across a class ring from Kennett HS lying in the rocks. The year is dated 1966 and the initials on the inside of the ring are BDS. I looked up the students on classmates.com and found a Buddy Shivley. I sent an email through classmates.com and received no response. I then did a google search on “Buddy Shivley”, “Kennett” and “MO” and came up with your site.Do you have any way to contact Buddy or his family? I would like to get in contact with him to determine if the ring is his and return it. I know this is “out there”, but it is a true story. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.”
I grew up with Buddy and went to highschool with him. If you know how to get in touch with him, let him know he can stop searching for his senior ring.
Update: 9/25/07 — One ring to rule them all. Thanks to Mike McGuire, Google, and a lot of luck, Buddy Shively will soon be reunited with his Kennett High School senior ring. Email from Buddy:
“Did you go on a trip to Lake Wappappello around the time we graduated HS? (not to be confused with the (in)famous float trip) I remember about 15 or 20 of us went. I remember riding in a boat with Ronnie Carnett pulling in toward shore in water over my head. All of a sudden Pat Brooks was in the water in front of the boat and Ronnie was setting there with his foot pumping an imaginary brake pedal with the boat going on toward Pat. (I think it was Pat and Ronnie – it may have been someone else – but I was still a hero!) I dove into the water (rather heroically, I might add) and pushed the boat away from Pat. When I came up my ring was gone and I really hadn’t thought about it much in what 41 years.”
And today, out of the blue, a Mike McGuire called and said he had found the ring and traced me down. He is sending it to me. What a deal.”
Yes, what a deal. And no, I wasn’t on that trip. But I love the Lord of the Rings flavor of this story. The story of my high school ring was one of the early posts here at smays.com.
Update: 10/11/07 — Bud Shively has his high school ring back.
“Who said it wouldn’t fit? It is as good as new. It sure hasn’t been worn much. I cannot believe it. Mike McGuire, of near St Louis, found my Kennett High School Class ring that I lost about 41 1/2 years ago and graciously had it cleaned at Randy’s Jewelry (you did a great job, Randy’s) in O’Fallon MO and kindly returned it to me.”