ebay

There are so many things that I could potentially buy from ebay that could potentially make my life easier or more fulfilling. But sadly, even with the modern miracle that is the internet, and its counter part FedEx, I am still incapable of reaping such benifits. No, you can't buy sex on ebay now. I'll give you a for instance. The other day Joel, Allan and I decided it would be pleasant to buy a half pound bag of unsearched, uncut emeralds on line. Not because we necessarily like them as gems but because they facinate us as two geology minded folk and a chemist. Instead of simply being able to have them shipped to our residence here in Canada, due to the complications of paypal, I instead had to send them to my parrents in California, and have them ship them to me at further expense. There have been other times where I have ordered books on half.com which were sent to my parents in California only to wait for my return during the summer. When it came time to go back to school, I found that the books were too numerous and too heavy to take on the plane, so I was forced to leave them at home, thereby depriving me of such titles as "predatory dinosaurs of the World" by Gregory S. Paul, among other great technical works. Recently I have been fortunate enough to find a copy of "Dinosaur Systematics" a book which I was prevented from buying from Dan Spivak at the Royal Tyrrell Museum by one of my coworkers who happened to start one hour before me. Yet, as I look at the astounding price of only $14, I am reminded of the additional costs associated with actually getting this book to me.
Another great example is climbing gear. I figured that if I bought climbing shoes online it would be alot cheaper than going to the store, particularly if I bought them used, which brings down the price by about $100. Trust me, I'm cheaper than Jack Benny, this sort of thing is important to me. I figured I'd go to the mall and try on a whole bunch of different pairs, even rent several from the university climbing center before actually buying some, just to make sure that I got a pair that I would like. After all, who wants to buy a product sight unseen. Yet once again, I am faced witht he dillema of how to actually get this money saving product to me.
In short: I hate PAYPAL and I loath Ebay