I had a few minutes to kill while I was waiting to pick up our dinner last night at Sidewalk, our favorite cheap restaurant, so I decided to pull out my PDA and read a little of the newspaper. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good grip on it, the thing crashed to the floor and the screen is now broken. So it's going to be recycled this Saturday because replacing the screen would be about the same cost as buying a new PDA.Catherine and I are trying to keep our expenses down these days, so I'm not going to upgrade to a smartphone (although Catherine is eligible for a new phone this month and her PDA are dying, so we're considering getting a Centro for her, without the data plan, which may cost as little as $50). I'm most interested in the Palm T/X because it has wi-fi (so I could access the Internet without having to boot up a computer) and I already have a Palm keyboard (because I like being able to type something without having to boot up a computer, especially on an airplane).
My problem is that I'm cheap. As I've said, we are trying to economize, but even if we weren't, I'm cheap and I don't want to pay $300 for a PDA. Or even $100, if I can avoid it. But I'm a tech geek, so the actual sub-$100 PDA doesn't appeal to me. Which leads me to the place all cheap geeks go for equipment. Ebay.
Ordinarily, I'd just Buy It Now because: (1) I'm impatient; (2) I believe the price of a thing should be the price of a thing (I don't haggle); and (3) I don't like being outbid at the last moment (as happened earlier today in the last 8 seconds of the auction). For the most part, I've been pleased with my ebay purchases: PWP got a great deal on a prosumer video camera (Buy It Now) and I got both of my last two PDAs there (both Buy It Now). But there's no Buy It Now T/X under $140 (which, to be fair, is a good price, just more than I want to pay). So now here I am, trying to get a really good deal, waiting for the time to run out on another auction... 22 minutes to go...
RESULT: Of course, someone waiting until the last 30 seconds and then outbid me twice. I had set my max as $100, then added another sawbuck to try to steal it back at the last moment. It finally went for $113.50.
I hate auctions.
