Oh, boy ... e-Bay

I use an old Handspring Visor handheld to coordinate work and church schedules, and to keep an electronic address book. It has worked very well for me for a number of years. Unfortunately, I recently dropped my PDA for the umpteenth time and ruined the screen. The device still functioned, but with half the screen blacked out I couldn't see enough detail even by scrolling. So I reluctantly started price shopping for a new PDA.

Unfortunately, all the new devices are combination cell phone / camera / wireless and who knows what else contraptions that do far more than I need and are far more expensive than I can afford. So with some fear and trepidation, I turned to e-Bay to see if I could find a used Handspring Visor Platinum like this one:

I don't know much about e-Bay. But I soon found myself obsessed with finding a Visor that no one else seemed to notice or bid on. I was getting up in the middle of the night when an auction was about to expire, seeing if I could be the successful bidder at the last minute. I found myself saying how unfair it was that others would set up automatic bids (cheating, I fumed) to continually trump my attempts.

Finally, after 2-3 weeks of trying, I found myself the high bidder on exactly what I was looking for and at a price I wanted to pay. After learning the ins and outs of PayPal, I received my new-used handheld and was back in business. Two days later I dropped it. Fortunately, it didn't break. But if it had, I was ready for more e-Bay action!