DutchClick

As I love techtoys I always want to have new stuff to play with…

Since a few years already I am into geocaching (for Dutchies: go HERE), a game that sounds like old skool, as in treasure hunting. But it isn’t. It is a game for adults and kids to play all over the globe (I did it in: France, Israel, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Greece and Spain). But there is one thing you need and that is a decent handheld (!) GPS. There have always been two camps: Garmin users and Magellan users. I am a Magellan user, because of its superieur quality. But that aside.

As handheld GPS devices are very very very expensive in Europe, I have been looking around the globe. And I did find a seller of a new Magellan eXplorist 600 in the USA. The price was very nice, which means a difference of about 200 euro (read: about US dollar 272, including shipping)!!! Yes, that is right!

I wanted the seller to ship to a friend in the US, who’s mother is going to take it to The Netherlands end of this months, just to save shipping costs and import duty, ofcourse . I did buy it and payed within a few minutes.
After 9 days of hearing nothing I did ask the seller about the status of the shipping. My friends didn’t see anything coming. Then I got a swift reply that my US address was not confirmed and that he was not going to send it. A few minutes later I had my money back on PayPal. But only AFTER my claim where the shipping was.
The discussion that followed after that was short but clear. I couldn’t trust the guy anymore… I might have made a mistake by not reading all the rules, but only after asking what was wrong I got a very short answer and my money back. Without any other way to get a solution what I asked.

I did not expect to get into an eBay dispute anyhow. But the old proverb is true: evil doers are evil dreaders. You would rather not buy at LJ Electronics on eBay.

I now did buy it at DragonFlyDirect. Thank you for you confidence!

While you are here: check out my new GPS Blog: GPS Passion

I have never been a player of games or roleplays, I have to be honest. But I am at home now. Sick…

There is so much talk about Second Life (SL), a virtual world where you can really live your second life. It sounds crazy and it is. But now I know that hearing about it is quite different from being there and talk to other people around there.

Just like in the new world commerce is taking over everywhere, so does it in SL. Shops are popping out of the ground everywhere. But there are virtual nightclubs, shops with weapons, a virtual synagogue and a virtual dojo (for Japanse martial arts) and even a virtual Western Wall (HaKotel) for instance.
But why has the OBA (Public Libary Amsterdam) to be there, and the City Of The Hague?!

It is fun to look around and to be there for one (maybe two) time(s), but I don’t think this is my world. I’ll keep to my own old First Life, I mean people of flesh and blood…