Cell Phones, eBay, and Karma

The other day when I got back from work, the dog was watching TV. And while I still haven’t figured out exactly how she managed to work the remote, I noticed she was watching “My Name is Earl”. I can’t say I’ve actually sat down and watched more then a minute or two since the show launched a few years ago, but the basic premise is that this guy wins the lottery and then gets hit by a car and he thinks its Karma getting back at him for being such a “bad” person over the years. So in order to change his cosmic output he sets out to use the lottery winnings to do “good” and make amends for his years of bad deeds.

Well I don’t invest a whole lot of belief in karma but I don’t wholly dismiss it either. Case in point: Monday. On the walk from my car to the train on Monday morning, I noticed something shiny on the curb and picked up a very nice Blackberry that somebody had dropped. Can you image loosing your cell phone? Now take that and multiply it a few times because you’ve lost your e-mail too. I know how naked I would feel if I had lost mine. So instead of just leaving it with the station manager and hoping it found it’s way to the main lost and found, I used my deductive reasoning (the owner’s facebook account) to figure out who’s phone it was and his e-mail address. Later in the day he got back to me to thank me for finding it (of course he was panicked all day) and we set up some time to meet and get it back to him.

Well that same day 2 items I had up on the old eBay (not to be confused with Old Bay seasoning which is much tastier) were finishing up on the selling block and were not getting much interest all week. Well when I checked back a few minutes before the close of the auction each had risen more then three-fold! Karma? Maybe but perhaps people were really interested in my Washington Nationals fleece blanket. Yeah...must have been karma.

Subtle Differences in the Morning and The Best Auction Ever

Scene: 740am.Your Hero (that’s me) is walking down a long hallway to his office door. Before he reaches his door, he passes a female associate from a different office who he swears he’s never seen before. To be polite he exchanges morning pleasantries with her.

Hero: Good Morning

Woman: Hi, How are you?

Stop the record right there!!! “How are you?” are you kidding me!!!

First off, I don’t know you, nor do I really, deep down care how you are doing (short of you need medical assistance). Secondly, you don’t know me and I can’t imagine that you really care either. Thirdly, your words require a response back by me, which means more work on my part just to say, “Well thank you”. And fourthly, because I had to respond back it almost requires me to add yet another line of verbiage that sounds like, “and how are YOU doing today?”

This doesn’t fly in my book. I was only saved from the fourth point today because you had passed me by at this point and I was at my door. The next time just say “Good Morning” back to me and let’s be done with the greeting. It’s early, I haven’t had my coffee yet and (to reiterate, I don’t care how you are doing).

On a lighter note, I want to draw your attention to the best auction item ever listed on E-bay. This is way better then Barry Bond’s steroid needle or that town in California from a few years ago. Dear Readers. I present to you, the most famous phone number in the entire world (actually 2nd most famous, because Thomas Edison’s original phone number -1- is probably more famous):
867-5309 (area code 267)

The Philadelphia area number is up for auction on E-bay (listing here) for the next 6 days and was already up over $2000 when I checked last. It turns out that a guy there had it put on a Vonage modem, so if you are the winning bidder you can plug it in wherever you are in the world and have guys looking for Jenny. And let me tell you this is quite a value. Back in February, CNN reported that a similar auction for the number (212 area code) went for well over $300,000.

This reminds me, does anybody what to buy my phone number? 1-900-Mix-A-Lot (and kick those nasty thoughts!)

I'm Pulling for the Patriots? Am I F-in Crazy?

Actually, no. No I'm not. I am pulling for the Pats in their battle against ticket scalping. Here's the quick rundown. The Patriots sued Stubhub (and parent company e-bay) in order to secure the names of the approximately13,000 buyers and sellers of Patriot season and individual game tickets on the site. Yesterday's ruling in favor of the Pats was on an appeal from the lower court who also sided with the team. For full details here's the ESPN.com article.

What I'm most happy about here is not that the big, bad NFL team is trying to get a stranglehold on their ticket sales, but rather that they are cracking down on ticket scalping and allowing fans to buy tickets at reasonable prices. In the worst case example, a 50 yd line seat for the Pats/Jets game in December is posted on StubHub for $1,300. Oh by the way, the face value: $125. So not only is this "fan" trying to unload a ticket they aren't going to use, they're trying to cover the cost of their entire season ticket package! Oh and one more aside, if that fan really "couldn't" attend the game and wanted to sell the ticket so they didn't have to eat it, they could go to Ticketmaster who has a partnership with the club and buy the ticket for face value (and the $30 or so in fees that are legal under Massachusetts law). So would you pay $150 or $1300 for the same tickets? Humm...

I think all sports fans should pay close attention to this story as this could set the precedent for other franchises to go after these jackals (you know how I feel about ticket scalpers) who do nothing more then buy the season ticket plans and resell the tickets for huge profit. Oh and Stubhub of course gets their cut (the percentage of which is not clearly labeled on their site....another indication to buyers that you are getting ripped off).

A Money.CNN.com report earlier this month praised Stubhub and the sites like it for creating a "truly transparent secondary market for tickets." Really? Which part is transparent? That fans are getting ripped off or that scalpers are buying season tickets which real fans have been waiting for (the list for Green Bay Packers season tickets is still 20 years deep) and then selling them piecemeal for huge profits?

I think all sporting teams should take this route. It's not that I don't support a secondary market for tickets, because if you've read the earlier posts about trying to get Springsteen tickets (which arrived yesterday!!!) you'll know I certainly do, but you also know (from those posts) that I detest ticket scalpers who aren't just looking to make their money back on tickets they can't use but to actually turn a profit. And for that matter, where are the DC Police during Wizard and Caps games? How is it that scalpers can sell tickets right in the front of the building? Next time you "have" to buy from a scalper, negotiate and talk them down and above all...ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS see the ticket before buying it!!