The Pixy Misa Token Of Gratitude eBay Quest has officially begun. There were several good suggestions from Ted, Jim and Victor and is seventeen pet rats.
Taking Victor's suggestion as a starting point, the first bid has been placed and I am currently the high bidder for a 1948 edition of Robert Heinlein's Beyond the Horizon.
Hardcover Book in ORIGINAL DUSTJACKET! A great collector's item from one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time! Heinlein was one of the most influential authors in the science fiction genre. He developed new themes, new techniques and approaches. He became the first science fiction writer to break into major general magazines in the late 1940s with true, undisguised science fiction, and the first bestselling novel-length science fiction in the 1960s. The major themes of his work were social: radical individualism, libertarianism, religion, the relationship between physical and emotional love, and speculation about unorthodox social and family relationships.I don't have a realistic level of hope for this one though. With a little more than two days remaining my high bid is $48.50. So there is no room in the $50 budget to go back if I get out bid. But there are more offerings in this category, as well as a lot of possibilities for Ted's suggestion of an anime cell. My only difficulty there is I would be a very uneducated shopper. I know next to nothing about anime and could wind up buy utter dreck for too much money.
The jacket on this book has edge wear with rubbing and some foxing. The book is square with a tight binding with clean boards and pages.Published by: Grosset And Dunlap, 1948.
UPDATE: 2 hours 37 minutes remaining and I still have the high bid. I expect to still have the high bid for about 2 hours 35 minutes.
UPDATE: 48 minutes to go. Still have the high bid.
UPDATE: 22 minutes to go. Still have the high bid.
UPDATE: 10 minutes to go. Still have the high bid. Almost starting to believe.
UPDATE: 5 minutes to go. Still have the high bid. If I'm going to lose it's going to happen soon.
UPDATE: 3 minutes 51 seconds. I have been outbid. As expected the bid is over the pre-established budget. A new item will be chosen and the Pixy Misa Token Of Gratitude eBay Quest will continue tomorrow.
Posted by Stephen Macklin at February 13, 2005 07:41 AMAh yes, the joys of eBay. 
On the plus side, there's always another one coming along.
can I make a recommendation... if you really want to win something on Ebay you have to play dirty!
Snipe it - http://hammertap.auctionstealer.com/home.cfm
Posted by Rob at February 14, 2005 04:00 PMRob,
Thanks for the tip, but that would take all of the fun out of it!
It's kind of like hunting. If you put out a bait and wait for a deer to walk up to it and shoot it with some huge ass rifle, yeah you've got some venison but where's the thrill of the hunt. It's just target practice.
Posted by Stephen Macklin at February 14, 2005 04:46 PMWell that makes sense I guess. I only suggested it as there are a lot of hunters out there with BFGs who don't give a damn about the hunt and just want to make sausages ... and they tend to do some pretty serious population damage!
Anyway, happy hunting.
Posted by Rob at February 16, 2005 01:08 PM