I’m playing around with VMware and I created a Windows Server 2003 virtual machine. When I tried to activate windows over the net it failed (the web security appliance it blocking the connection). Microsoft gives the option to activate windows by phone, which I’ve never tried. I read this post about how to activate windows in less than five minutes: http://www.command-tab.com/2007/03/17/windows-xp-activation-in-5-minutes-or-less/ and I called thinking I was going to have to read an extremely long number to someone in a call center in India. To my surprise it was completely automated and didn’t take very long at all. I entered the extremely long longer on the keypad and the automated system read back to me the activation code. The code worked perfect and now my server is activated!

I’ve been trying to sell some of my DVDs for a while. I listed on Valdosta’s craigslist and offered good titles to some friends. I got a few responses but no serious buyers. So, I decided to sell them on ebay as a lot, but then I ran across mx123. I googled to find out if they were a scam or not, and they seemed legit. The one thing that worried me, was I did not see any good contact information for mx123 on their website. But when I submitted my DVDs and got a shipping label, it provided me with a phone number. One important thing to note is, they do not accept DVDs still in their factory shrink wrap (must be some strange legal issue). The only purchase used DVDs. The price they quote is for a perfect condition DVD, and they will deduct money based on the condition the DVD, box and artwork. Thankfully all of my DVDs sold for full price. Here is my experience.

• 10/27/2008: Submitted DVDs for sell and printed out shipping label.
• 10/28/2008: Dropped package off at post office (FREE SHIPPING!)
• 11/05/2008: Received email from mx123, “Your Sell Order has arrived at our store!”
• 11/06/2008: Another email from mx123, “we received and inspected the items”
• 11/09/2008: Received paypal payment from mx123!