The Glory of Bidding (or, why ebay should be deemed morally reprehensible by the Church)

So Paypal now allows transactions for buyers from the Philippines.

With this development driven by laissez faire market forces, folks from the good 'ol P.I. are now free to bid with (reasonable) confidence at the glamorous online palengke mecca known as ebay. Having checked my trepidation at the door, I dusted off my long hibernating ebay account and proceeded to link it with my newly minted Paypal account.














This actually took more time than I thought as Paypal requires that one validates a credit card by competing a transaction with them first, which is then reversed during the first use of the account. So after a couple of days of waiting, I was finally able to place some bids on Saturday afternoon.

And bid I did.

And did.

And did.

And did.

And did I bid.

36 hours later...

I'm a certified auction junkie! For all of you out there who have experienced the thrill of seeing a bid go green, or felt the unbridled shock and panic of a deal turn red with 5 minutes to go before closing, you know exactly what I'm talking about. My hands are shaking from lack of sleep, I'm frazzled from watching multiple bids, and am cursing at people with names like hotdiggedy78, urbestglfr and dallasplayer.

It's unusual behavior, it's not gentlemanly in any way, and I can't stop doing it!

On Golf

Back in 2004, after not touching my golf clubs in five years, I pulled them out of mothballs, brimming with hope and excited to feel the morning mist upon my face as the waking sun gently warmed the well manicured fairways of the course I was to play. Predictably, I then promptly played my worst round of golf since college and immediately banished my golf bag to dark storage. I thought, that was that. Embarrass me once, shame on you; twice, shame on me.

Now, three years later, and against my better judgment, I find myself strangely drawn to that siren's call once more. I've been going to the range religiously for the past two months and am actually seeing a pro to contribute to my swing (note: my pro is awesome, so if anyone out there wants to learn from one of the best in Manila, drop me a note). My game still isn't pretty, but I'm convinced that I will be one of the best.

Which brings me to my next point -- I am declaring that my handicap will be below 10 by August next year. To put that into perspective, that would be the equivalent of training to complete a full Ironman Triathlon, or developing the stamina to walk from Isabela to Cebu, or practicing hard enough to hit twenty half-court shots in a row.

Absurd? Just a little. Doable? You becha!

So if you're looking for a golfing buddy, or you want to give it a try -- come on over!

Rebirth

So...

After months of inactivity I am revisiting my blog, and establishing a new Sunday morning habit -- my weekly post.

So to get the juices flowing I am listing all of my personal projects down and commit to discuss them at length in the weeks to come. :-)

0. Family!
1. Design Firm -- Creating the best Interactive Experience
2. Lizbeck
3. Baseball Philippines
4. My golfing aspirations
5. Podcasting (2 Guys and a Mic - the other guy being Pepper F.)
6. Futsal Philippines

*Note to world -- the Philippines rocks!