On using craigslist – rude or not

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Hugh Paterson III

Craigslist is is like the classifieds in the news papper, but for free.

Becky and I have been looking for a car for a few weeks, we have been to a dealer and we have been looking online.

We want something with:

comfortable seats
cruise control
better than 30 mpg
a roof rack
a place for a hitch
a little bit on the heavy side so that it has some good handling

We are thinking that something like a Cross-over or a smaller SUV might work… We would have enjoyed the 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe, but the head rests were a pain.

I sold my car (Black Honda Accord) a few months back.

Hugh's Honda Front

When I did, I took the car to a shop and the purchaser paid for an inspection on the car. I let them take it out for a test drive; made the VIN number available to the potential purchasers. (And the final purchaser was not first inquirer. I went through the process with one other person before them.) I would expect someone who is selling their car to show me the same courtesy. I as a buyer do not know how many hits have been on that particular listing.

Following some good sound financial management principles one should not spend before they know what they are getting. And the purchaser should not have to pay for the car before they test drive it.

If one is selling a car, as a buyer I expect to be able to test drive the car, research the car on CarFax, and take it to a shop and get a second opinion on the condition of the car. Additionally, when I buy a car, private party, I expect that any maintenance records would be turned over at the time of purchase as well.

With craigslist there must be a lot of very impolite people who try and take advantage of sellers. 2/3rds of the interactions I have had with people on the north side of Dallas, the sellers have been very distrusting of the buyers. This could be a result of the difference in economic zones between North and South Dallas, this could also just be some rude people selling items in North Dallas.

As Becky and I were looking on craigslist we found this listing: http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/2702863575.html So, I contacted the guy at Becky’s request. The following conversation ensued.Special thanks to Nicolas Gallagher ^[1] Nicolas Gallagher. 5 MARCH 2010. Pure CSS speech bubbles http://nicolasgallagher.com/pure-css-speech-bubbles/. [Accessed: 29 January 2011] [Link] for the CSS for the speech bubbles. And to DiskAid for the ability to pull text messages off the iPhone. ^[2]Hugh Paterson III. 10 December 2011. Pulling text messages off of iPhones. TheJourneyler.org. https://hugh.thejourneyler.org/2011/pulling-text-messages-off-of-iphones/ [Accessed: 29 January 2012] … Continue reading

Mazda3 listing on craigslist

I called him and talked to him a bit about the car and asked for him to text me the vin number. (My texts are shown in blue and his in orange.)

Received on 11/15/2011 20:05:00

Jm1bk1436411655841

Thanks

2 things: 1.Can you double check the vin you sent me. I think there is an error in it. 2. When might be a good time to look at the car?

I dont save outgoing txts whats issue? i will meet when u are ready to buy netime (must bring money if u wanna drive though) too many tire kickers :)

The vin you sent was 18 digits and vins are, from what I can tell supposed to be 17. Here is what you sent me Jm1bk1436411655841

65841

—– Next Day
Received on 11/16/2011 13:31:06

U decide if you want the mazda

I did not decide if want the Mazda. I did decide that I want to look at it and sit I the seats and test drive it. If I still want it at that point, and the value to cost ratio is still in my favor. I would choose to do business with you. You sound like you know cars. I don’t buy things to see if I like them. I know I like them. Then I buy them. I also sleep on financial decisions. I don’t rush. Still interested in selling me your car?

In ur favor?

If I am still convinced, that the price fits the goods. Remember I have not even seen the car yet.

Hah i know what the rest are going for mines hands down best buy on the market and i know none drive like this one…. ive had four of these

I am interested in touching the car. I believe you. Do you do your own work or have someone else do it?

I had a shop do it and i can show it but seems like id be wasting my time showing a car to someone who says flat out im not buying it but want to see it

I did not say I am not buying it. If I have to drive. 30 min. One way. Your time is not the only one waisted.

No no no just saying like 2 out of 100 ppl look at a car and come back later to buy it nobody thinks about a purchase while they sleep..thats just an excuse of w [sic]

If u like a car pull the trigger …. tell ya what ill show it any time but i hate when ppl say they want to thnk abou it that really mns no.

So if u like it think about what its worth before coming so u can make a decision then and there and wont have to say “thnk bout it” u can just say yes or no :)

Whats ur email ill send u ton of pics so u can see it

Ok. That request makes sense. Hugh[at]thejourneyler.org

Needless to say, we did not buy the car.

References[+]

References
↑1	Nicolas Gallagher. 5 MARCH 2010. Pure CSS speech bubbles http://nicolasgallagher.com/pure-css-speech-bubbles/. [Accessed: 29 January 2011] [Link]
↑2	Hugh Paterson III. 10 December 2011. Pulling text messages off of iPhones. TheJourneyler.org. https://hugh.thejourneyler.org/2011/pulling-text-messages-off-of-iphones/ [Accessed: 29 January 2012] [Link]

Handicapped: What does it mean?

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Hugh Paterson III

This past Christmas Becky and I visited her cousin, who has, as of about a year ago been diagnosed with ALS. We were able to talk a bit about what it means for him (experientially) to be handicapped. We talked about laws, systems, and attitudes in our society with regard to services for handicapped people. – Much the User Experience kinds of stuff, just not with the web.

It was the first time I had heard someone discuss critically the pros and cons of the implications of the ADA. We talked a bit about how handicapped people are affected by the laws and their implementations.

One example our cousin gave was walking from the handicapped parking to a restaurant. At one establishment the handicap spot was on the same side of the driving road but the spot was further to walk than the closest parking spots. Not all handicapped cases are the same. For some it would be better to cross the street to walk the shorter distance than to walk the “safer” but longer distance.

Resturant Parking

We also talked about some experiences he had with Disney and with Southwest Airlines.

Without taking credit for our cousin’s stories or wanting to bash on either of these companies, let me relay the flowing experiences and some reflections on them. It was interesting that his interpretation was that socially in Disney being handicapped, when it came to waiting in lines, meant that you got preferential treatment. This was because there was a separate and often shorter line for Handicapped persons. He remarked that this is not exactly fair to non-handicapped persons. And that the purpose of the laws for persons with handicaps is to make things equal, not preferred.

However, his experience with Southwest was of a different nature. Being a faithful customer of Southwest since the early 2000’s I have often enjoyed my “plane crackers”. He remarked that it was really difficult for someone with muscular challenges to navigate between the rows of seats. (Someone else with several kids, was using a kid to reserve the front seat for other people who were boarding later.) It was also difficult to get seats which were together for his family. I found this a little hard to believe until I was flying Southwest this past January. Having heard my cousin’s story, I took note with new eyes on people boarded the aircraft and how the elderly, families and handicapped people were assisted.

On my way to Oregon, there was a man next to me who had lived in the U.S. for a number of years but was originally from Columbia. He was in his 80s and wore hearing aids. He never heard the cabin bell saying that it was alright to get up and go to the bathroom. This would normally be alright but the light for buckling the seats never went off. When the stewardess asked for his drink he could not hear her ask if he wanted cream and sugar with his coffee. Luckily, I was there to “yell” in his ear and he got cream and sugar.

On the way back from Oregon an elderly lady with an oxygen/nebulizer kind of machine with her was disembarking from the plane. She was slow moving and felt really bad for keeping others waiting who were going to disembark. After most of the passengers had disembarked I asked the steward on duty how he would have handled this kind of passenger in the case of emergency. He said that they hope to never have an emergency, but in the case of one, it would be challenging. They would probably have to do some kind of two person carry to get the passenger out of the plane.

I am not sure that I have a strong closing paragraph for readers. But it is eye opening for me to think of systems (lines at amusement parks or customer service and boarding systems) in terms of User Experience and Usability with disabilities in mind.

Evergreen Aerospace Museum

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Hugh Paterson III

A friend of mine and I went to the Evergreen Aerospace Museum today. There was a lot to see the spruce goose, a B-17, P-40, P-38, and lots of other beautiful planes. There were a whole host of small planes which I wish I could just fly once. Talk about boys and their hot rods, these planes were just amazing. Someday I would like to fly the P-38… someday. To of the most beautiful planes there were the Ryan PT-22 and the Fairchild PT-19A. The paint on these planes was brilliant!

Beautiful yellow and blue on a PT-19

PT-22 Recruit With brilliant red, yellow, and polished steel.

View along the fuselage from aft to fore of the B-17

Fairchild PT-19

P-40

The Journeyler

A walk through: Life, Leadership, Linguistics, Language Documentation, WordPress, and OS X (and a bit of Marketing & Business Administration)

Monthly Archives: January 2012

On using craigslist – rude or not

Handicapped: What does it mean?

Evergreen Aerospace Museum