How to sell a Segway

You may recall that I used a Segway for a period of time as a mobility device, but have since stopped using it in favor of my new Travelscoot scooter. The scooter has been extremely useful, already having been on two airplane trips, many shopping trips, and more. So it was clear that it was time to sell the Segway. However, we discovered that there is not much of a market for used Segways in Saskatchewan. We were worried that we might not be able to sell it very easily, and we really needed to sell it in the summer because chances are slim that anyone would want to buy it once it was not usable outdoors anymore.

So when a guy contacted us saying he was interested, but didn't have the cash to pay the full asking price, what normally would have sounded like a crazy idea started to sound fairly reasonable. When he said he could give us half the cash that we were asking and then give us his Honda motor scooter (not like my scooter – like a pared down motorcycle), we considered it carefully. And then Jeff went to try out the scooter and decided we should take the deal.

There was a period of time where Jeff wanted to keep the scooter, but the whole point was that it would be easier to sell a scooter than to sell a Segway. Jeff illegally rode it a total of three times – illegal because he does not have a motorcycle or scooter endorsement on his driver's license. Apparently he found it to be quite a lot of fun. However, I was careful to instill a seed of fear, which grew, and the desire to keep the scooter was short-lived.

As it turned out, we found a perfect buyer almost immediately. A young couple who lives near downtown contacted us as soon as the ad went up. They needed a cheap form of transportation for short trips around town, and this was perfect. Jeff had to illegally ride the scooter to their house because the guy who's going to ride it would not take it on the streets before he had completed a motorcycle course. I liked selling to them because it was clearly going to be used well, and they are very safety conscious.

So for a while we were down one Segway, and up one scooter, but now the scooter is gone to and the only scooter left is my little mobility scooter. It feels as though balance is restored.

The past couple of days have been spent doing many baby things. We discovered a few weeks ago that the points we earn by using our MasterCard debit card were going to be extremely useful. Apparently we earn points for every debit card purchase we make, and are points had added up since opening up our credit union account a little over two years ago. We were able to trade in our points for hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards at Sears. So on Friday night, armed with our gift cards, we went to Sears and got a free stroller and car seat. Then yesterday we bought a used crib, and went back to Sears to get a free crib mattress and mattress covers. We have now used up our gift cards, but have saved many hundreds of dollars on baby things in doing so.

Yesterday we also assembled the crib, and rearranged things in our bedroom, because that is where the crib will be, at least at first. Rearranging the bedroom meant moving Jeff's dresser to the basement, which meant both of us getting rid of some clothes in order to make space in existing drawers. If we had a giant house with giant rooms we could get away with not doing this kind of thing, but as it stands we have to do lots of rearranging and purging in order to make space for baby.

Our original plan was to have the crib on my side of the bed, but it turns out that it is impossible for me to get in and out of bed safely and comfortably if the side of the bed is blocked by a crib. So the crib will be on Jeff's side of the bed, and he assured me that he will not be able to sleep if the baby wakes up anyway, so at current the plan is that he will pass me the baby for nighttime feedings. I'm so glad that we are doing this stuff now instead of waiting until the last minute, because I think otherwise I might get stressed out by it.

Today I spent a good part of the day weeding the garden. As of this week we finally have peas, Swiss chard, and lettuce that is ready to eat. We also finally harvested some rhubarb, though we probably could have done this a few weeks ago. Things are slower to get started in Saskatchewan, but it is still very satisfying to eat vegetables that come from the garden. It was also satisfying today to realize that my ability to maneuver on all fours has improved since last summer, despite my pregnant state. Today I was able to weed areas of the garden that I could not reach previously,  because I could not balance well enough on my hands and knees before and I can now. So that was an unexpected nice surprise :-)