My wife and my library...

My one and only wife and I have been married now for nearly 7 years. Our anniversary is on the 18th of September and we were chatting about what we could get or do for eachother as we do for Birthdays, anniversarys mothers and fathers day etc... Most of the time we just get eachother a card and wrote some personal note to eachother.

the discussion took a bit of a turn this time, because instead of saying something like a "family picture" (which I did for Mother's day for her), or a card, she actuyally wanted something. before I say what it was, I need to explain a bit.

She is a Iowa Cyclone alumnist and fan. the Cyclones and the Hawkeyes played recently, and she didn't get to watch because we have sattalite TV. Actually we have local channels on Cable as well, but only paying for it for one room (I don't steal Cable, but that's a different matter), and that TV was in use by myself and my daugher (our "date-night", but again another topic), so she didn't even ask to use the big-screen TV. In fact, I didn't know the game was that night, or I may have volunteered it for her use.

In any case, back to the request. SHe asked for Satalite "local channels". I told her I would be happy to get that for her. I thought it was going to be about $15 extra a month. She didn't think it was worth that much extra so she decided she didnt' want it afterall. Well, I wanted to at least look it up and then talk her into it anyway. turns out it was not even $10 more a month, so she was happy with that and that it would be worth it for her.

She then asked me what I wanted. We have already discussed on many occasions that I love to expand my library, so that was the obvious direction - it would be a simple matter of sending her the links to the resources I would like to have added to my library and she could pick one and surprise me.

As I was putting together a list of resources. The first one was a "joke", but something that I told her that I wanted some day, if we won the lottery; then proceded to list 4 resources that I had been drooling over recently.

I guess I need to take a step back and say that I do have about 30 or so books on my shelves and stacked about in my church office. But my "library" is actually an electronic library. (http://www.logos.com/products/lbs/lbsx21)

My wife looked at the links I gave and the proceded to turn around and tell me (our computers are in the same room on opposite walls, we sometimes IM eachother while in the same room!) that she wanted to get my first request (http://www.logos.com/products/details/2432).

I was like - yea, right - you are kidding me right? I then started talking about the other ones and if I had to prioritize them, which I "really" wanted (prices ranged from $45-$120). She said, no, I am talking about this big one that is on special. At this, I got up and stood behind her as she was scrolling through the list of what it comes with.

this is just too amazing for me to describe how I feel about this. I know that many will say big deal or whatever abotu a bunch of "books". But for me, a self-proclaimed professional-student-wannabe, it is a serious dream come true. even one of the books I asked for was going to be a grand-blessing but this, this is just too much for me to comprehend at the moment, so I had to blog and say that I have a wonderful wife, and best friend.

Ever felt like you were stepped on?

Ever felt like you were stepped on emotionally. No, not just accidentally, but a heavy foot with twisting motion?

Well this is how I am feeling right now.

Earlier today, I made a choice. I had decided that I was going to auction off my brand new (to me) Electronic converted Blazer (paintball marker); and was going to give the complete proceeds to my church organization that has a fund specifically for the hurricane katrina relief effort.

I had assembled a nice set of accessories to go with it as well. Took some pictures, made an EBay auction, then started to post links on most of the forums I visit, even infrequently.

Many hours later, (a little earlier this evening) I received an email saying my auction removed by eBay, and it was an invalid auction! I logged on to eBay and they had indeed removed my auction, and had notified me subsequently (apparently) to their removal of the auction that it was in violation of their rules. here is an excerpt from that notification:

eBay encourages community members to be active in supporting charitable endeavors. Because charitable fundraising is a highly regulated area subject to numerous state and federal laws, eBay has partnered with MissionFish to make charitable listing easy and has created very specific guidelines for when charitable solicitations will be allowed on eBay. Non-MissionFish listings 1. Sellers may only list items on behalf of a charity if the charity has provided advance written consent for the solicitation. To prove that you have obtained that consent, you must include a scanned copy of the consent in the listing. 2. Sellers may only solicit on behalf of recognized 501c3 or 501c4 charitable organizations.

They didn't forewarn or ask me; as to the 2 "rules" above, they are non-issues. I am the Treasurer of our local COGOP, and the COGOP is (obviously) a legitimate 501c3.

They apparently thought I was trying to scam people using the hurricane aftermath as an excuse. They were wrong. My auction was completely legitimate. I was even going to pay for shipping and the eBay fees, so that 100% of the proceeds would go to the effort.

Needless to say, I am now extremely disappointed and do not even feel like trying - I have been accused of being a scammer, indirectly by EBay; and directly now by people I don't know on forums, emails and PM's because eBay deleted/invalidated the auction. I will, of course, try again and do what I can to send monetary aid - but am to frustrated at the moment to know what my next plan will be.