…and you’ll see why in my next blog post. The announcement is coming in a few days. For now, listen carefully:

I don’t make my personal political views known for a number of reasons, the main one being that I think politics is too self serving for the politicians themselves and not enough about serving the people who support them.

So here are some vague political statements. Very political of me, I know:

Why I love living in Canada: Because we’re known around the world as peacekeepers. We’re known as one of the best countries in the world to live in because of our apparent ability to remain neutral when conflict arises.

Why I hate living in Canada: Because we’re so close to this type of thing and it’s wrath. How long will it be before we’re looked at as guilty by association, or worse, viewed as guilty because of our neutrality?

Don’t expect me to make very many political posts in the future. I already feel inhibited about letting my views be known. Have for a long time.

Is there somewhere I can live on this planet where I won’t feel inhibited any more?

1. Been working on the template here and still need to take care of a few things, like the sidebars, footer and commenting interface. I’ll get to those when I’m good and ready *grin*

2. Getting more copywriting work lately. That’s what’s bringing in nice amounts of cashola right now so making that top priority over other projects is what I’m doing. Pauly needs a new pair of shoes!

3. Will be ramping up my blogging here on this site and twitter, and winding everything else down by the end of 2007. Too many irons in the fire is not good for me.

4. Any extra projects I work on will be under the radar from now on. Prying eyes too soon means premature opinions. First impressions are not always correct.

For me, 2007 was a year of coming to terms with a lot of things in my online business and personal life. I won’t get into details because I’m considering it all water under the bridge.

2008 will be a new year, and a new chapter in my life. As the last few pages of this chapter are turned, it’s as if I can’t wait to get through it and move on to the next. Because even though 2007 was poorly written and devoid of plot, the author did a good job of building suspense for the rest of the book.

Now, like most of you, I’ve peeked at the first few pages of 2008 and guess what… they’re empty.

To most, that emptiness would be disturbing. No pre-written plot, a map with a hole in it and you’re headed right for it… like a 15th century sailor who’s been warned that the earth is flat but still sails for the edge anyway - and ends up discovering the new world.

Enough bad metaphor for now.

Those blank pages in 2008 will need to be filled, and how interesting they are depends on how passionate you are about filling them.

The price you pay for a product is just that, the price. It involves the sicker price + taxes + delivery and that’s what you pay. Pretty straight forward. So most of us, no matter how well off financially, will try and get products at the lowest price possible.

The cost, however, is what you have to go through to get that product at that price.

I went out about a week ago and paid for an air conditioning unit. It’s one of those smaller window units built to cool off a single room in your home. The price I paid for the A/C unit was $159 taxes in. Not bad, considering this is high season for A/C sales in this part of the world, with temperatures hitting 25-30 Celcius as a warning of how hot it’ll be for the next 3-4 months.

As I said, about a week ago I paid for the unit. I was told I’d have it yesterday - 5-6 business days because they were sold out and had to have more shipped in from their warehouse. “No problem,” I thought. I can take the heat for a few more days.

Today I was told they’d call me on Tuesday of next week ‘if’ my A/C unit was in.

Not only am I hot, sticky, uncomfortable and can’t concentrate, I’m also hot under the collar (if I were wearing a shirt).

Trying to save a few bucks by going after the best price has already cost me a week of lowered productivity, not to mention the stress associated with kicking myself for being so cheap.

I’ve done this before - went for the cheaper option rather than paying well for better service, so I should know better.

My conclusion is that human beings are probably one of the stupidest creatures on earth (at least this human). Even a cow, a walking sirloin, doesn’t go near a wire fence again after being burned. Put a human in the same situation and they’ll sit there playing with the fence, expecting a different result each time.

It’s the cost of being human.

I shop on eBay quite a bit, like 3-6 times a month I’ll buy smaller things that usually cost less than $100. Clothes, personal stuff, car parts, etc. The experiences have been great over the years… until now.

About 3.5 weeks ago, I ordered an item as usual. The next day I got an email from the seller saying that the item had shipped… as usual.

Today, I get an email from the seller saying that I had 48 hours to leave feedback, or, they were going to leave negative feedback for me. Problem is, I never leave feedback unless I have recieved the item and I haven’t recieved what I ordered from them yet. So I email them back, ploitely, saying I haven’t gotten what I ordered yet.

What the F! Ok, I’m kind of ticked at the seller for emailing me with an ultimatum. That kind of thing does not sit well with me. Once I get the item, I’ll leave honest feedback and try to put a positive spin on it. But where the hell do these people get off with these tactics?

Will I ever purchase from this seller again? You already know the answer. And if I haven’t recieved the item I bought in the next 48 hours, I’ll forward the blackmail email straight to eBay with a full explanation of what’s going on here.

Any of you had similar experiences with eBay sellers?