Made a CL purchase yesterday for my daughter. She has been wanting one of those jewelry boxes on a stand. Personally, I don't care for them, but she does. I could not see paying the $100 - $300 that I have seen them listed for in stores. So, when I saw one listed for $35 I jumped on it. This is what I did to make sure the exchange would be safe for me, and then I will post what the seller did that I think was dangerous. #1 - Emailed the seller. When she emailed back, her name was listed on the email address, so I looked up the street address. I was not familiar with the area and knew it was in the country (well, so am I to an extent.) When I did a MapQuest, I realized that seller lived not too far from my back door (about a 15 minute leisurely and beautiful drive through the countryside.) #2 - Called my daughter and asked her to go with me. She didn't know what I was going after, and begrudgedly said she would go because it was mothers day. ;-) She was quite surprised when she found out I was buying something for her which I told her on the way. #3 - Called buyer (she had previously given me her number to call when I was on my way. Had cash in hand. #4 - When we arrived, I found a nice well manicure lawn and home. My daughter stayed in the car, while I went to the door. from there, it was kind of crazy on the sellers part. OK, what the seller did wrong. #1 - When we arrived, the garage door was opened, and also the front door was ajar. I chose the front door, since I didn't want to be rummaging around someones garage looking for a door to knock on. #2 - The seller answered the door quickly, and when I identified myself, she said this way, and turned her back. I followed her into the kitchen, and then she suddenly turned around and headed into me, before going back out into a hallway. Turns out she had only gone in the kitchen to throw something away. lol I was right on her heels, and I think scared her! #3 - Seller has me follow her down to a finished basement where her kids are playing. I speak, and continue to follow the seller through a room, and then back out into the garage. WHAT? #4 - Seller then heads into a storage room, with me staying behind the door. She pulls out the jewelry armoire for me to inspect in a dark garage. it looks fine, and I hand her the money and carry it out to my daughter. I thought the seller, knowing that we were on our way, would have had the item ready and waiting. There was no need for me to have to go through her house. Also, when we got home, we inspected the piece better and found the drawers to be a little dirty (lint, etc.) and the outside dusty. It would have taken the seller all of two minutes to dust the outside and vacuum out the drawers. Overall though, it was a good CL experience and never once was I scared. Had it been a man taking me through the house, it would have been a different story. Had I been a male buyer, I hope that the seller would have been more careful.;)

Well, I don't mean to open a whole other can of worms, but I am offended at the inference that only not-so-intelligent, non-math-and-science-whizzes believe in ghosts. I consider myself fairly intelligent, and I have seen a ghost. My son is much smarter than me, and he has too. He can tell a story about seeing our resident ghost (where we used to live) that can make your hair stand on end. I absolutely believe him - he is a no-nonsense both-feet-on-the-ground 24 year old man.

The 911 incident was a lot different because those people probably knew they were going to die, so, of course they had nothing to risk and everything to gain by trying everything they could. When I became a mother I didn't take that responsiblity lightly. I can't do something just because I want to. My first duty is to raise my kids, and for that I have to remain alive. I think your "I want to get involved and be a hero at all costs" mentality is actually somewhat selfish and just plain suicidal. I would bet there are people that depend on you and need you to stay alive. There comes a point where you can't just react and get involved even if you want to. I've never been one to just stand by, but you should realize there are situations where that is the best thing to do. You can't just react. Now, I would jump into a pond to rescue someone, but I know I'm not going to be able to over take a craze man of almost any size with any size knife. What do you think a trained cop on that bus without a weapon would have done? I'm not sure what type of people you think ride buses but I doubt there were even many people on that bus that could have physically over taken that man. I really don't think it was a bus load of Arnold Schraznegger type people. You wouldn't really expect an elderly man or a woman with children to do step in. Plus, it's not like people had time to think. Yes, maybe they could have taken a rope from a bookbag and strangled him, or found some hairspray and aimed it right at him; but do you think you could even think rationally when all this was happening? It's not about getting involved or not; it becomes about making the best of a very bad situation, and trying to keep in from escalating. What do you really think the odds would have been of you being able to save that guy (and him not being a vegetable) versus you just becoming another victim yourself? I think the chance that you too would die would be higher than most planned suicide attempts.

I've been burglarized twice. It gives a real strange feeling for a long time. Real insecure that you're not safe in your own home. Sadly crime, even murder, happens anywhere. Here's hoping that the criminals get caught and put away for a long time. I'd also hope for something else that would make for a hot topic so I won't say it outright. One thing though, today, the chances of getting away with murder on a situation like that is quite limited. It might take a few months, even a year or so, but the clearance rate on this type of murder is very, very high. About 15 years ago there was a family murdered about 6 blocks from here. I was watching the news and recognized the house and the way they were reporting, the perp was still on the loose. I got my pistol ready, just in case and was still uncomfortable from a burglary a couple years prior. Another security factor was that I had recently adopted a little dog with good ears and it gave me a better feeling of security. They caught the perp quite quickly. It was a totally random thing. The guy had gotten off the bus, saw the house looked empty, broke in and spent the better part of the day there and the family came home. My best wishes to the family.