Home Alone & Hoser Highway Robbery

J-Bartles has been in Winston-Salem, NC visiting his mom n' pops since Saturday and I have been having all sorts of juvenile fun in his absence. It's been just like 'Home Alone'! Jumping on the bed? Check! Eating sundaes and scaring myself silly watching gangster movies? Check! Evading burglars? ...Thankfully, no! I actually did a lot of cleaning (including bleaching tubs and thrones), threw out a horrific looking compilation of gray hairy cherries in a tupperware container from the fridge, and overall 'tidying up' (AKA throwing out all sorts of things I don't think Jason will notice upon his return! Just kidding!). I can't wait to see him again tomorrow! :)

New TV show recommendation: Memphis Beat on TNT - good times.

What else is new? Oh I had to go all Hamburglar on someone on eBay today and file a dispute. I really, really did not want to do that but the seller left me no choice. I bought, of all things, a turquoise depression glass reproduction candy dish from this individual. It was for my new office at work. I even went as far as envisioning it sitting on the corner of my desk, filled with seasonal treats that I could use to bribe co-workers from whom I needed assistance and special favors. So I buy the thing and then I note that the seller will invoice me at a later date for shipping charges. UMMM I've bought a lot of things off of eBay in my lifetime and I've never been invoiced separately so I was mildly alarmed. I should have known then that I was hoein' down the road to Gloomsville. So I send her a message telling her I bought the candy dish and will pay as soon as she sends me the invoice. 2 days later, I get the invoice and the shipping is $17!!!! The friggin' dish only cost $8 bucks! She explained that she'd had some items 'go astray' recently so she only shipped with tracking and insurance. Ok, fine. I paid it. I checked her feedback rating and it was all positive with 1 exception, a negative rating within the last 6 months. But hey - maybe that person was an a-hole, right? Can't judge a seller by 1 person's fury, right? Right. So invoice paid, send me the dish. That was May 23rd. Check your datebooks, people - it's now June 28th - do I have the damn candy bowl? No. The seller emailed me in early June to apologize for "forgetting" to ship my item. I was ridiculously kind about it. I wrote her back immediately to ease her fears; I was not mad, I understand, stuff happens, etc. She wrote me right back to say she appreciated my graciousness (really) and said she'd mail it the next morning. So more than a week goes by, no dish. I message her through eBay letting her know I don't have it and to please send me the shipping information - the $17 shipping fee I paid came with TRACKING. So send it, sistah. No response. She never even emailed me to say she'd mailed it. 4 days pass, no response. I message her again, this time letting her know that I either need the shipping information or a refund. I thought, "Hey, it's got to clear Customs! That's probably why it's been delayed!" But I've bought things from the UK through eBay sellers and got them within a week without paying any special shipping rates. Plus, if I was this seller and someone was frantic for their glassware and I had shipped it, I would WRITE THEM BACK. Quite suspect. So today, 20 days since I last heard from this mofo, I decided to file a dispute with eBay and request a full refund. No way is some Canadian trollop skipping down the streets of Ontario with my $25 AND my turquoise glass candy dish-with-lid. No ma'am. You're not going to start your eBay-supported life of crime on my watch. I have a soft spot in my heart for Ontario since it's the birthplace of my favorite Thrasher Bryan Little, but this type of unresponsive behavior can no longer be tolerated. I am fresh out of Ontario cheeks to turn. Hopefully, I'll win the dispute when even eBay cannot roust this hoser into a response, and I'll get my money refunded sometime before Christmas 2012.