Horizon Road

The new rating system of trying to avoid 1’s and 2’s in the DSR’s (Detailed Seller Ratings) is unfair and wrong on so many levels. It takes the power out of the majority and hands it to the few. And to make things worse, the few that now have the control over any sellers ability to remain a top-rated seller are the least desired eBay buyers…the overly critical, the impossible-to-please, the ones that hastily buy without reading descriptions, and the new members that have little buying experience. The majority no longer matters. And this is so very unfair, especially to the sellers that sell high volume.

Under the old system, one needed to maintain a 98.5% rating in all four DSR categories (Item As Described, Communication, Shipping Time, and Chipping Charges) to maintain the highest level of selling standards. Those that can accomplish this should be the ones getting the Top-Rated Seller status. Period. This system involves ALL of the buyers that seller has sold to during the time period of evaluation. That is what eBay was originally built on, a rating and evaluation from all buyers, not just a select few.

Under the new system, the higher volume sellers become very vulnerable since they receive the most traffic from a higher diversity of buyers. A seller that sells to 500 buyers per month can now have 99.9% of their customers give a perfect DSR score and be thrilled with their purchases while one or two individuals can prevent the seller from maintaining their Top-Rated Seller status. If one person buys five items without reading the description or is new and has higher than realistic expectations or is simply over-critical or mean by nature, they can give the seller all 1’s or 2’s (out of 5) whether the seller deserved it or not, and the seller loses his Top-Rated Seller status…all because of one buyer.

In the new system, even if the other 499 buyers from that month think this seller is the best thing on eBay, their ratings no longer count. All that counts is that one disgruntled individual who may or may not have had the right to rate the seller the way he did. All the power, the future of that seller, the ability for that seller to continue his business, now rests in the hands of one individual. That is not right.

This has happened now to me. My DSR numbers are way above the eBay average. More than 99% of my customers think I am a fantastic seller, and many claim I am the best seller on eBay. I describe each item’s condition in detail. I supply pictures of the actual item being sold. I have many, many faithfully returning customers. I work with my store full-time. This is my sole source of income and I work very, very hard to make sure my customers are getting exactly what they thought they were getting and are happy when they get it. I treat all of my customers exactly as I would want to be treated when I am the buyer.

But one person that bought 4 albums was not happy with the S&H charges and gave me all 1’s or 2’s in that category even though the charges are outlined in every listing and no one was forcing him to buy from me to begin with. He was new to eBay, had no experience with the S&H charges and did not understand what goes into them. The fact is, my S&H charges are similar, and in most cases even lower, than most other sellers on eBay selling the same things. But if I were to get one more customer like him in a month, I lose my status, and subsequently, half my business…all because of one person that doesn’t understand.

I have had a couple people cause my status to be temporarily lost in the ‘As Described’ section of the DSR’s. These were most likely a couple of buyers that did not read the description of the item. They were most certainly buyers that did not inform me why they were unhappy with their purchase and give me the chance to make them happy one way or another. They probably saw the picture or title and bought without reading for any flaws. I always describe any flaws in detail within each and every listing and price the item accordingly. While my feedback is jam-packed full of comments about my items being exactly as described or better than described, I now lose my status thanks to one or two overly-critical or impatient buyers that decide to give unwarranted ratings in my DSR. That is way too much power to put into the hands of a single buyer. While my average is 99.2% or better in every DSR category, I can, and have, lost my Top-Rated Seller status due to one individual, as opposed to keeping my status because of the clear majority of my customers that think I am one of the best sellers on eBay. That is simply not fair, not right, and should not be allowed to happen.

Taking the power away from the majority and giving it to the minority is a dangerous thing to do in any setting.

As for the new Top-Rated Seller icon, it has taken away the need for a PowerSeller icon. People used to seek out PowerSellers and preferred to buy from them, knowing they were buying from an experienced and enduring seller. Now people seek out the Top-Rated Sellers. I know this because my business was cut in half the moment my Top-Rated Seller icon was wrongly stripped from me. I have had my lowest sales in over a year since being unjustly stripped of my status. With my DSR average still as high as it has ever been from the voice of the majority of my customers, not to mention higher than the majority of current Top-Rated Sellers on eBay, my business now suffers greatly thanks to the voice of just one or two customers out of my 500+ customers per month.

I now have to stop listing new items and stop re-listing old items that don’t sell for at least the rest of this month, so that I have a chance of surviving the next month with my sales drastically cut in half thanks to one or two individuals that gave me overly-critical and unwarranted low DSR ratings. This is definitely not right.

The new system is unbelievably unfair and I am amazed that it was ever approved by the powers that be in eBay. It takes the well being of eBay’s sellers out of the hands of the majority and puts into the hands of the few. I now have to suffer for a month because of it.

eBay’s new system of avoiding low DSR’s is desperately in need of a logical re-evaluation.

Under the Dome is another example of why I hope Stephen King will never stop writing. It is more than 1000 pages long, but manages to keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the story. Have you ever seen one of those movies where the best part is the fifteen minute intense chase scene somewhere in the middle? Well this book would be like that except instead of the intense chase scene only lasting a few minutes in the middle of the movie, it lasts the entire movie from beginning to end.

The story in this book is not actually the story. The story is about a town and how its residence handle the story. The actual concept of the story plays a very little part in the book, other than the fact that it has put the residence in a predicament that becomes the real story. The initial concept is the cause and the escape, the beginning and the end. But for the 1000 pages in the middle, the story is about the people of the affected town. By the end of the book, you really don’t care if the cause was alien or government experiment or whatever. What you care about are the people. Few writers do this as well as Stephen King. This story has you routing for the good guys and despising the bad guys and almost forgetting about how they got into this situation to begin with, that beginning and end that gave purpose for the story, because the real story is of the people in the town.

This is a must read for old King fans and anyone interested in becoming a King fan, or anyone that simply enjoys reading a very good and intense fiction book, so I won’t go into the story because I don’t want to spoil it for those that don’t read it as soon as it is released, as I do for anything Stephen King writes. All I will say is that this is one of Kings really good ones. I enjoyed every minute of it…time well spent.

My rating is 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Breathless was not how I felt after reading Dean Koontz’s newest book that was released earlier this month. A little confused, maybe, unsatisfied, definitely.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a terrible story, but I am glad Koontz’s books tend to be quick reads. An evening an a half is all it is worth.

In Breathless, Koontz basically tries to explain the existence of man without explaining it at all. And in the process, he introduces us to all sorts of characters that have no bearing whatsoever on the story, the most disappointing being that of a Senator who is planning to initiate the breakdown and demise of society as we know it, although that never happens. And then there us the friend of the Senator who decides not to go with him to the planned housing for some multitude of politicians and great minds planning to rebuild the world as they see fit after this fall of society, but instead decides to become a serial killer and kills his brother and his brother’s wife and hole up in their mountain cabin for three years with a multitude of victims until the supposed collapse of our world as we know it has passed.

Then there is the corrupt lawyer that hires an even more corrupt former client that he had gotten off on murder charges to kill his wife and son. But those plans get thwarted by another character that had little purpose in the story other than being a witness to the creation of a new species on our planet…but again, we aren’t actually told exactly what it was that he had witnessed. All we know, near the very end of the book, is that he is now a changed man, after being a bum and a thief and an addict, and reunited after 30 years with his mother and blind father, who also play absolutely no part in the story.

The story itself, however, the parts that actually matter, are intriguing and delightful, but on the verge of trying to be too cute. The reaction to this new species by the government is predictable and expected. The escape is far too easy and short. The end of the story is abrupt. The tie-ins at the end of the story to all the needless characters we’d been following throughout the book left me feeling like they were created only to fill some pages to make the book long enough to be considered a novel. The Senator and his friend, the lawyer and his almost killed wife, the serial killer, and for the most part even the witness of the creation of this new species that appear on Earth and his trek to find his parents, have no real purpose at all…other than giving Koontz something else to fill space with.

I have read everything Koontz has written and will read everything he writes in the future. His books are kind of like Steve Martin movies…not that they are supposed to be funny, but as much as I like Steve Martin, you can expect to be disappointed in at least one out of every three or four movies he is in. Koontz is the same way. I read everything he does, but I know that only about two-thirds of his work will end up being worth the time.

Breathless has the potential of being one of the good ones, but comes up short in the end. Parts of it I enjoyed very much, but much of it was lost in his desire to create unnecessary characters with stories completely unrelated the subject of his book. The end result is a story that comes across almost as forced as that silly toupee he has sported for the last 15 years or so.

I rate this one 2-1/2 stars out of five.

Call me old-fashioned, but this trend of tattoos and belly piercings for women is such a turn-off. What happened to the beauty of smooth, clean, beautiful skin? I see so many beautiful bodies these days with graffiti all over them, metal hanging from the belly, the lips, or speckled on the nose. I hate it. Not that my opinion matters. I’m an old man and I am talking about younger women. I won’t be dating them, but then, if I were young, I wouldn’t want to.

Now I see on the news that the new Barbie Doll comes with tattoos that the kids can apply to their doll.

It’s a pity. It’s a turn-off.

I think women’s beauty, like rock ‘n roll music, peaked in the seventies. Now the more they try to improve it, women’s looks, rock music, the worse it seems to get. Today’s super-models don’t look half as gorgeous as the girl next door in the 70’s did.

A real pity.

“Nowhere”.

A common compound word using two smaller words, “no” and “where”.

Or are the two words “now” and “here”?

Is there really a difference?

After 49 years of struggling to get some where,

I am now here,

having gotten no where.

Endorsed by PGA Tour Professional, Chip Beck, the ‘O’ Beam trains golfers to minimize head movement, especially during the putting stroke.

eBay power seller, NextDoor WebStore announces it has been named the exclusive eBay outlet to sell the new and innovative golf training tool – The ‘O’ Beam The ‘O’ Beam’s laser allows the golfer to correct any head movement, which is essential for a solid golf swing, especially in developing a solid putting stroke. Less head movement leads to better putts and lower scores.

The ‘O’ Beam was designed by golf instructor, Katie O’Keefe to train her students to keep their head still when putting. Katie O’Keefe has been a golf instructor for 10 years, helping players of all ages and abilities. Katie says, “ The setup and head movement are the most important part of the golf swing.” The ‘O’ Beam was featured on the Golf Channel and is endorsed by PGA Tour Professional Chip Beck who states, “ ‘O’ Beam is the best putting aid I have ever used.”

The only place to buy the ‘O’ Beam on eBay is at NextDoor WebStore http://www.ndwebstore.com). To purchase the ‘O’ Beam training tool and to get more complete information on this new golf training product, go to http://www.golfobeam.com, ndwebstore’s direct link to the ‘O’ Beam.

I have never been a William Shatner fan. I enjoyed the original Star Treks a time or two, but I was not a trekkie and seeing an episode more than once in a five year period was probably once too many.

Then there was the drunken night that his wife died in the pool. He was found not to have anything to do with it, but I always had my suspicions…unwarranted, of course, I just didn’t like the man very much. I had a bias for reasons that I could not readily explain, but I felt the way I felt and could not deny it.

Recently I moved from Minnesota to Florida. I’m not a much of a TV watcher to begin with. I watch some sports…well, football…the NFL, to be precise. But football is only on Sundays…and Monday nights…and sometimes Thursdays, and only then when in season. At any rate, in Minnesota, I had access to HBO. I didn’t actually watch it much, but I often used the TV for background noise while working. When there wasn’t a football game on, one of the multitude of HBO channels was usually where it landed. There are no obnoxious commercials on the movie channels, therefore no sudden surges of volume, as is always the case when the network or cable shows take a break to earn some money.

Then came the move. I suddenly found myself in a new state, a new town, a new home, no friends, and nothing to do but work. Though I’m not complaining. I enjoy my work. But I hadn’t yet found a radio station in town that I liked and being busier than ever, I still needed some background noise while I worked. I also hadn’t subscribed to any of the movie stations. Since I don’t actually watch them, they’re just background noise after all, I couldn’t justify the extra expense as I tried to get myself re-established.

So network/cable television, on low volume so the commercial breaks wouldn’t jolt me from my concentration, was going to have to do. And that was when I saw my first episode of Boston Legal.

As I pointed out before, I am not a William Shatner fan. But I do like Candice Bergan. I like James Spader, too. So I didn’t change the channel just to spite William Shatner. Thought about it, but decided it didn’t matter. I wasn’t watching anyway.

I realize I am late with this and watching reruns, but somehow Boston Legal took my concentration away and I found myself actually paying attention to it. On a personal note, I haven’t had much reason for laughter in quite some time, longer than I can remember, if truth be told. But Boston Legal is on several nights a week here (Denny Crane) and I found myself looking for it in the on-screen guide and planning my evening’s around (Denny Crane) it and laughing at William Shatner’s character despite my initial unwillingness to do so (Denny Crane).

I love this show! I love the subtle humor in it. And I love William Shatner as (Denny Crane). I can’t imagine anyone else doing that role as well. He and Spader make a great, quirky, slightly insane team of brilliant lawyers that do nothing by the book.

I felt I needed to write this out as a sort of apology to William Shatner for not liking him for all these years for reasons that I could not define.

And with that said, I leave you with these two words that have brought at least a little laughter back into my world…

Denny Crane.

I have Vista and I LOVE it!

Odd Hours is the fourth installment already of the Odd Thomas series started in 2003 and it sets itself up for a fifth offering that will be coming before too long, I am sure.

The entire story takes place during one evening, a span of about six hours. Odd Thomas finds himself in a town for reasons unknown to him, finds a mysterious pregnant woman whom he doesn’t know, and vows to protect her with his life for reasons she will not reveal. This chapter in Odd’s odd life begins with him meeting the unknown woman who has no last name, and ends with him driving out of town with the woman while still having no idea who she is, why she needs protection, and with no real destination in mind.

Enter book five.

The mysterious woman character is not even necessary in this story, makes a couple of guest appearances to make sure we don’t forget about her, and leaves the reader with a strong feeling of an unfinished story despite the fact that Odd manages to discover and thwart an evil attempt by powers unnamed to redesign the world order beginning with the destruction of several major cities in the United States, all in a six hour time frame.

This story raises more questions than it offers answers. Koontz’s descriptions of the flowers and trees and weather and such take up at least half the book. The other half is Odd using his unusual psychic abilities to track down and shoot the bad guys dead. But even with the villains all having fresh bullet holes in them, the mysterious pregnant woman still requests his safeguarding.

Having helped Elvis find his way to the ever after in the end of the third installment, he relies on the spirits of Frank Sinatra and (of course) a ghost dog named Boo to help him out of a few jams. But even though Odd manages to kill all the pawns in the evil scheme, we are allowed one slip of the tongue that mentions a Senator might be behind, or at least involved, in the plan to start a New Civil Order, yet no conspiracies or politicians, from our country or any other, including the origin of the ship delivering the nukes to the fumbling pawns of the plot, are otherwise ever even mentioned.

This book falls to third in my favor of the four Odd novels. The first one was one of my favorite Koontz novels when I read it. But later, in fact just a few weeks ago, my son and I were watching a movie, one that Dean had watched many times, we decided, The Mothman Prophecies with Richard Gere. I had told my son about Odd Thomas as we often discuss the books we read with each other, but he had not actually read any of the Odd Thomas novels himself. But at the same moment during The Mothman Prophecies, after a single particular line spoken by the expert that Richard Gere had sought out for some supernatural answers, my son and I looked at each other at said “Odd Thomas” almost simultaneously. Sure enough, a quick double checking of dates showed the Mothman appearing in 2002 and Odd Thomas appearing in 2003.

Just like the idea for The Good Guy comes directly from the movie Red Rock West with Nicolas Cage, Odd Thomas is a direct result of The Mothman Prophecies.

It makes me wonder how many other novels of Koontz’s are taken directly from movies that I haven’t happened to see. I hope Life Expectancy isn’t another rip-off being my current favorite Koontz novel.

That being said, despite the fact that Dean appears to be much less imaginative than he would like for everyone to believe when he talks about where he gets his ideas (which he does very often in his newsletters, all of which I read, and none of which mention the movies he is stealing his ideas from); and despite the fact that even with Trixie gone he can’t seem to write a story that doesn’t contain a hero dog or two, Dean Koontz is a very talented, descriptive writer and I enjoy his work because he makes it easy to visualize his story as he tells it.

His books are fast reads with large font and usually fairly fast paced. I read Odd Hours in just two evenings, enjoyed it, but was definitely left unfulfilled with the open-ended finish and all the questions about who this mysterious pregnant woman with no last name is and why she was even in the story to begin with.

Rarely are movie sequels as good as the originals and Odd Thomas falls into this category as well. I thoroughly enjoyed Odd Thomas in 2003 (although now hold a lot less respect for it since discovering, without question, where Koontz lifted the idea from); Forever Odd in 2005 felt like a waste of time; Brother Odd in 2006 was much better than the second in the series with a much more substantial story to tell, but still mostly just the same old stuff in new surroundings; and this latest effort falls somewhere between the second and third chapters of Odd’s odd life.

I suppose when you write as much as Koontz does, you need to dip your fingers into the wells of others to keep the stories coming.

If it sounds like I am being a little hard on the compulsive writer, it’s because I have always considered him one of my favorites. But as I have discovered a few of the sources for his stories, it feels a bit like seeing how the magician does a trick that you have always loved and discovering it was a lot simpler and less complex than you had ever thought it could be, or like going back to the circus for the first time as an adult and seeing the sadness and desperation behind the masks of the clowns that you hadn’t noticed as a child.

All in all, I give Odd Hours a 3 on the 5 star scale and will buy the fifth chapter when it comes out next year sometime, if for no other reason than to find out who this mysterious pregnant woman is that Odd has vowed to protect, and why she needs protecting. Koontz is a talented author and I do enjoy his writing, but I think he has been knocked down on the “favorite” list a few notches because he is much less original than I had previously thought. If you like Dean Koontz, I recommend Odd Hours to spend an evening or two with to pass the time, assuming you have been following the story from the beginning. But if you haven’t been following Odd Thomas since 2003, you aren’t missing much bypassing this long chapter.

Due to an incredible increase in spam attempts to litter my blog with trash, and since I am too busy to be deleting them every ten minutes, I have temporarily, indefinitely suspended the ability for outsiders to leave comments. Once again, the abuse of a few ruin the use for many. Just another example of the far too many thoughtless people out there that don’t care about or have any respect other people’s hard work.