Freedom or Folly?

I am having a horrible time throwing stuff out! What a psychological dillema! I am determined to clean out my life, start fresh, only what can fit in the RV is coming with me - the FREEDOM will feel SOOO good. Then I open a box (hoping I can throw the whole box away) and I find grade school report cards. aaaaaarrrrrggghhh I've kept those for sooo many years ... only to throw them out now? Or how about good 3 ring binders? Maybe I can get myself to toss the contents, but I paid good money for those binders, I can't just throw them in the garbage?!?!? ....... I need a drink.

No turning back now

Omigod ... we've paid our money ($28,000) for the RV and should be picking it up in a couple days. We are being mighty trusting here, but it's the only way I know how to be. I love how some people think we're totally nuts ... and some people are envious. We are going to have to learn to live with a lot less stuff. But, that's exactly what I want to do! The campground trade show came and went and Hialeah Meter didn' t return Jim's phone calls :-( oh well. Things always turn out for the best. I took the flyer I made and stopped by Paradise Island RV park (the one we plan to move to anyway) and asked if they were interested in providing high speed internet to the campsites. Yep! They were very interested. So Jim went and talked to them for a while and they're even more interested. We proposed a 6 month arrangement where we get to set up the technology, tweak it and support it, in exchange for free rent. I think that's a real win-win. Can't wait!

Internet in RV Parks

I'm trying to put together some kind of flyer for Jim to take with him to the RV and Campground Trade Show next week. He'll be in Hialeah Meter's booth with them and promoting services for campgrounds to offer high speed internet access to their customers. In looking for some graphics to use, I stumbled across a site for RVers that has the best explanations I've found yet on the variety of ways to connect to the internet from the road.

Buying an RV

Sounds like we bought an RV. It's a 30' Safari, '97 with all kinds of good stuff. I can't believe Chris hasn't been writing about it. Only seen pictures, but Chris has been talking to the rig's mechanic. Still throwing stuff out. Gotta lighten the load. I talked to the meter guy again about the show next week. Everything looks good there. I reminded him to send me names of a couple of parks where I can beta. Oh, Boy! Posted by Jim

Buy an RV from eBay!

Yep, let a couple of days go by and there's too much to say. So, I figure "I'll make a weblog entry later" ... and you know what happens then. Anyway - getting reenergized this morning. We actually made a bid for an RV on eBay! As one friend said "That takes guts!" Well, it's fun having guts. I've been watching RVs on eBay for several months, but didn't ever think it would actually work out. Most of them are in Texas, California or something like Michigan. But this one is in Tampa, it's a high-quality make (from Monaco Coaches) and it meets the specifications we have settled on - so we Bid! eBay is fascinating. The RV was listed as an auction item with a 'buy it now' price of $33,500. The seller's email was also listed so I could ask some questions. It occurred to me that "what's to prevent us from circumventing eBay if we're in direct contact?" I think the answer is simply - someone might report it and then you'd be blacklisted from using eBay. Buyers' and Sellers' 'ratings' are highly prized. You don't want to do anything that would get you negative feedback. Anyway, we put a bid in of $28,000 and were informed that we had not met the 'reserve'. Reserve means the hidden price that the seller has said is their minimum acceptable bid. Well, I emailed the seller and told him "I know we didn't meet your reserve, but thought you may want to consider it anyway" And! He accepted it. Now I've asked that the terms include "we can opt out of the sale if we inspect it within 7 days - and lose a $300 deposit. So, we'll drive up sometime in the next week and, hopefully, drive our new home back! We would also like to stop at Lazy Days and have them check it out and possibly sell us an extended warranty.

Making Websites

Two more people today talked about me doing their web page. I've got to get going on this! Had an appointment this morning with an artist to help make our own web page look good. He got excited with the idea of a 'comic book' theme. I kinda like it too - but only if it can also be elegant and professional as well as fun. I certainly couldn't accomplish that, but maybe he can. So, I'm looking at other sites and it's amazing how different 'comic-books' can be. I like the callout graphic at comics.com, I'm not sure if I like the green color. I don't like the all caps and stars at DC Comics or the angry/mean look of the superheroes. I like the callout alphabet at this site. I kinda like how Garfield is standing over the top of his web page here, and also how he's coming out the the computer. Oh, and there's a drawing of garfield's buddie Odie here. Notice the nameplate that he's standing on, I like that. On this page there's a font I like - the button 'Cartoons'. Hmmmm - I think maybe the Archie comics has about the right flavor? On a totally different note, here's a website that I like because it is so clean and simple, yet so full of good stuff. It's the South Florida Underwater Photographer's site. I think a main difference between them and us tho - is that it's pretty clear what they are there for. Guld Systems needs to do a lot more explaining. Or do we? The hardest thing is to make something simple ... maybe that is what we really need to work on.