Do you want to fight?

- This story regarding NBA official Joey Crawford and Tim Duncan is just hilarious, and I'm not at all surprised to see Crawford suspended for the rest of the season. For one thing, Duncan is about the least temperamental player in the NBA. Second, so what if he was laughing on the bench? How do we know that he was directly laughing at a call made by Crawford? Refs need to learn that their job is simply to officiate a game, right down the middle, and to not allow their egos to come into play.

Then again, this is the NBA; NBA officials aren't exactly the most unbiased referees in all of sports.

- Brian Urlacher got fined $100,000 for wearing a Vitamin Water cap at a press conference during the week of Super Bowl. For those of you that don't know, the Super Bowl was in early February. Apparently, it is illegal to promote a product that isn't a league-designated sponsor. This article sums up my opinion on the fines levied against Urlacher. Urlacher gets $100,000 for wearing a cap, but Terrible Owens gets only $35,000 for spitting on a guy? I don't care that league rules mandate a $100,000 fine for a violation that occurs during Super Bowl week. IMO, the fine is about $90,000 too much. Never mind the fact that this is Brian Urlacher; how many negative headlines has this guy produced? None?

Ok, the rest of the blog will be sports-free, or double your money back!

- That pic of the VaTech gunman holding both guns might be one of the creepiest things I've ever seen.

- Did anyone catch Chris Matthews--host of MSNBC's Hardball--interviewing anti-video game nutjob Jack Thompson? I can't stand Thompson, so when I saw him appear on Hardball, I muted my TV. According to some discussion on AT, apparently Thompson (not surprisingly) blamed CounterStrike for the shooter's rampage, only to have Matthews rip him a new one by pointing out that Thompson had absolutely no evidence to prove this. To further 0wn Thompson, Matthews interviewed a suitemate of the shooter's, and the guy said that the shooter never played video games. Nice try, Mr. Thompson. Maybe you should try getting Pac-Man banned; that game encourages gluttony AND murder!

(Tangent: the idea of playing Pac-Man has be jonesing for some NES retro-gaming. If only I can find the driver for my Xbox to PC adapter!)

- Today's eBay story: A year or two ago, I sold a copy of Quickbooks 200x (I forgot what version) to a lady in New York. Two weeks went by after the auction closed without hearing from the buyer. I fired off an email to her, saying that I was going to relist the auction. Right before I got around to relisting, the buyer emailed me, saying that she wanted to complete the transaction. She explained that she was vacationing on her houseboat, and that kept her away from her email. She sent me a PayPal payment, but she provided an unconfirmed shipping address.

(Tangent: in order to be "protected" by PayPal against fradulent payments [and yes, the quotes are necessary; anyone familiar with PayPal would understand why], an item must be sent to a "confirmed" address--the billing address of one credit card linked to the buyer's PayPal address)

I refunded the payment and instructed the buyer on how to add a confirmed address to her PayPal account. She said she would do it right away. At this point, I should really have just told her to go find another seller.

A week elapsed, and I again had not heard anything from the buyer (what a surprise!), so I fired another email to her. I explained that I was going to file an Unpaid Item Dispute on this transaction, in an attempt to recoup my listing fees for the auction. I made one huge mistake, though; I filed the dispute as a mutual agreement to cancel the transaction. Had I claimed that the buyer failed to go through with the transaction, she would have been hit with an Unpaid Item strike, and I would have recouped my funds. I only filed the mutual agreement to be nice; it was an attempt to let her out of the transaction without penalty.

Minutes later (notice how quickly the buyer is able to respond to my emails, once I apply pressure to her!), she emailed me back, saying that she still wanted to go through with the transaction. Again, she explained that her time on her houseboat kept her away from a computer. She also cancelled my dispute, claiming that she did not agree to mutually cancel the transaction! That meant that I could not ever recoup my fees from the buyer, in case she did flake out again.

I fired off one last email, saying that I demanded a USPS Money Order, and she had three days to contact me with confirmation that the money order was sent. Of course, I never heard from the buyer again. I guess her houseboat sank or something...

Enjoy!