How much for that guitar?

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

After laboring at the computer for about an hour last Wednesday night, the little light went on in my head -- hey, this stuff is cool. Where have I been the last decade?

I was logged on to eBay, making my virgin voyage around the site.

Yes, I'm in the 18-29 demographic that makes eBay go, but I'm also a technological idiot, and always felt a little intimidated by the idea of buying things from complete strangers without seeing it first.

Until Wednesday.

For weeks, my mom has been talking about how cool "this eBay thing" is. She just got started too, and she's been buying everything she can get her hands on -- or not on, in this case. Salt and pepper shakers? What the heck, place a bid.

Being beaten out in the computer world by your mother is just not acceptable, and combined with the fact a buddy of mine was selling a comic book and told me to bid on it, I thought I would wade into the eBay waters Wednesday for the first time. It turned out to be a little harder than it was described to me, but fun nonetheless.

After about 157 attempts, I finally got a user name nobody else had -- I doubted bigdaddyressler was all that popular --and bid away on the comic book.

Then I turned my attention elsewhere on the site. "Honey, look at the cool things I can bid on here," I yelled to my wife downstairs. "Do you want me to bid for you on a tiger-striped purse? That'll be cool again in about 15 years, and we'll be ahead of the curve then."

"Unless you want your daughter running around the house without a diaper all the time, I wouldn't be spending any money on that garbage," she yelled back. She being the accountant in the family, and me being the reckless spender of cash, I figured I should take her advice and hold off on bidding.

I checked back on the comic book, only to find that I'd been outbid -- by my mother. I made the mistake of telling her what I was up to, and she took it upon herself to introduce me to the ruthless art of eBay.

Even though she didn't want the comic book, she did want to outbid me.

I thought about putting another bid on the site, this one higher than my mother's, but with my luck, I'd end up with a comic book I don't want or need, just to spite my mom. Getting the last word is worth a lot, but not a comic book.

At that point, my wife pulled me away from the computer as I was kicking, screaming and throwing a fit, all while our 2-year-old daughter stood idly by, acting like the grownup.

At work the next day, I was telling our sports editor, Jeremiah Bartz, about my eBay toils.

"Man, it's addictive," he said. "I've only done it in spurts, but I've ended up with a jersey, some sports memorabilia and a guitar and spent like $400."

At that moment, I took it his testimony as a reason to not get back on the site. He's right -- it is addictive, and I can see how you can get caught up in the online auction world.

A few hours later, though, I recalled that conversation, and thought about it a little differently.

"Four hundred bucks for a jersey, some sports memorabilia and a guitar? I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar," I told myself.

"It may not be that bad of a price. Hey, I may even get that for $395 if nobody else bids. Where did I write down that password?"

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor and eBay rookie.