A few weeks ago I told you all that I have days and days of footage from the HORSE AND MAN series that have never been edited.

It is just sitting here…

It sits here because I cannot easily hire a professional editor to go through all of these tapes (literally 5 boxes of tapes) and edit them into succinct little tidbits to put on my blog.

I could do it myself but I’m a lousy editor and I’m fearful of learning how because in my mind ‘it will take me forever’ when I know that a true editor could whip these puppies out so easily –

Anyway, boo-hoo on poor me, eh?  I’m complaining because I have a trunk of gold (at least I think so… we’ll see) in my closet?  I had to slap myself and put on my big pirate pants and grab a hold of my sniveling self.

I decided to get over it, buy some books, find a new (used) and powerful computer – and just do it!

BELLY OF THE BEAST – the devil on my shoulder – INSTANT CREDIT.

The only way I could afford a new computer was to use credit.

Well… I intentionally didn’t have any.  I had promised myself a few years ago that I would only use cash from then on and I had cut up my credit cards.

Well…

Ahem.  (And please don’t tell my mother…)

Demon Pay Pal provided the answer…  “Ding” chimed the innocent alert telling me that I had qualified for BILL ME LATER.

Uh Oh.

An avenue…

Going against all the unemployed credit Gods I had finally appeased by zeroing them out, I applied for Pay Pal’s handydandy “bill me later” dark hole of temptation.

Of course, I was granted a nice little pot for spending now – and stewing in later.

With the buying power sitting in my Pay Pal account, I started trolling for consumer knowledge.

I asked Mr.Google to help me define exactly which computer I wanted… paring down one search to another to another… following others’ mistakes and insights…

The answer came in an iMac that was old enough to still have a DVD component, but new enough to have an updated operating system.  I wanted an i7 (not many of them) so I could run a powerful editing suite (thinking big here) and I also wanted the fastest speed possible (because I am impatient and figure I’d like to make my mistakes FAST).

The only catch was that I would have to find this rare gem on Ebay – since my Pay Pal money would only work there.  And because they had Buyer Protection.  I wanted that.

I entered my Ebay password (that I had intentionally lost a few years back) and studied every computer.

My mind became weary as I studied not only the computer listed, but also the surroundings in the photo (valuable clues there about the sellers), the way the ad was written, what ‘extras’ came with it, the misspellings and grammar infractions…

I was overloaded.

And then, the sweet one popped up!

Or so I thought.

Looking back, I must have been tired because the signs were all there.  In the photo, the unit was not turned on.  The ad was very sterile – only the facts.  Every photo from this seller looked almost exactly the same.

But, they had over 15,000 feedbacks and their rating was very good.  They were an Ebay Super Seller, for criminy sakes.

And, the coup de gras, it was $200 cheaper than any other comparable model.

I pulled the trigger.  Pow!

CHECKING OUT

While in the check-out process, it was revealed that this vendor didn’t accept the “Bill Me Later” option with Pay Pal.

Hmmmm.  I wondered why but didn’t let that deter me.

I decided to pay cash, even though it would strap me.

“Probably better, anyway,” I told myself.

And the deed was done.  The computer was on its way to me.

IT ARRIVED

The computer was a bit later than I expected in its journey so I decided to contact the seller.  In doing so, I happened to check the actual feedback listed for them – not just the feedback number and rating.

I discovered that for pages and pages of feedback, the written words and the items sold were exactly the same.

Exactly.

Pages and Pages of exactly the same words for the exact same product sold hundreds of times.

Uh oh.

The seller had a high rating because they were fudging.

ALERT!   Now I was scared.  I had paid cash.

GULP.  Now I just had to wait for it to appear at my door…

And when it arrived, the computer had no original box, no keyboard, no mouse and no power cable.

I couldn’t even turn it on.

AAAAAHHHHHHH.

Hubby recognized my spin-out and found a power cable that would work.

It turned on – thank computergods.

But, it didn’t have any of the programs an iMac should have.  It was almost blank.

I had paid a lot of money for a machine that was stripped of its programs.

I freaked.

Firing off an email to the seller and a complaint to EBAY, I escalated my issue and put up about a zillion red flags.

After I received a dismal return email from the seller offering the split the difference of the cost of a power cable (are you kidding me?), I immediately composed my Ebay COMPLAINT and threatened the seller with huge action if he didn’t tell me and Ebay exactly how I was to return this computer which arrived not as described to get a full refund which as offered in his ad if I wasn’t satisfied.

The next email from the seller included the instructions on how to return the computer and a return label.

I shipped it off.

Like a rabid hawk, I sit twitching while waiting for the refund.  I’m ready to squeeze every dime out of this rotten player.

I hate a cheat.

IN THE MEANTIME

In the meantime, I still needed a computer.  So, I took my time.  I read all the ads.  I looked at the backgrounds in all the photos, I looked a the ‘extras offered’ and I read the ads with a fine tooth comb, looking for a regular good person who just happened to need to sell his/her computer.

Finally, a few days ago, I found the model I desired that was owned by an editing facility in Texas.

I wrote to them and begged them to not let me purchase from them if the computer was not what they said it was.

They told me that they were honest and that they upgrade all of their computers every year.

Hmmmm.

I rechecked all of their written feedback – only 110 feedbacks –  and all were unique and glowing.

And, they accepted BILL ME LATER.

So, I bit.

I bought their computer.

 

 

HERE IT IS!

The big box arrived in just two days!

I opened it and inside was a proper iMac box with all of the original styrofoam inserts as well as the mouse, keyboard and power cable.

The machine was wrapped with the original paper – amazing that they kept that – and over wrapped with plastic.

It works and is beautiful.

Not only that, it has so many extra applications, I feel compelled to over-achieve in the editing department, just to learn how to use them all!

 

MY WORKSPACE

My workspace is in the loft.  The ceiling is low and I tend to bump my head all the time when I stand up after sitting for a while.

As you can see, I have my assortment of books sent by Mother Amazon.  I have highlighting pens and sticky tabs.

Also, I have several stuffed animals which must seem weird to all of you… Long story.

Anyway, now you know that I have embarked on my new knowledge expedition and my pledge to bring those long lost interviews and visits to HORSE AND MAN.

The pressure is ON!

;)

 HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

 

Copyright

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