Listen, I don't mean to come down too hard on anyone, but this whole concept is so bogus. This guy, Stefan, what is his rationale for getting people to give him money? I don't get it. He lives in a nice house, he's going to college, (University of North Texas I think?), he has a Nintendo DS, a digital camera, and he already has a laptop! And on his blog, he actually implies that his parents have let him down by giving him merely a Pentium II:
"It was time for me to go to college, and I got a 500 MHz Pentium II notebook from my parents. While I could have been angry at them, it was a gift so I accepted it."
Are you kidding me? What is this guy's major malfunction? I'm a young American male, too, but I just can't relate to this. My dad helped me buy a computer when I went to college in 1998 (A 400mhz Dell desktop that lasted me 6 years, with minor upgrades) and I thanked him. Profusely.
If people want to give this guy their money, fine, have fun. I just couldn't watch this spectacle anymore w/out throwing my .02 in. Figuratively. I'm not gonna be giving this guy a penny. I hope he announces what he's going to do if the amount doesn't reach his target, as the "Win my Powerbook" guy has done. He should give it to charity. Anything else is obscene.
The other site, which seems to be getting a lot less donations, "Win my Powerbook", seems to have the right idea. He's not appealing to people by telling them that he's poor and can't afford to buy what he wants himself. He's putting his Powerbook up in a kind of lottery. This "make me switch" guy, on the other hand, would have us believe that he's destitute. That's pathetic.
To Stefan... I'm not much older than you, I'm 24. My family is from Texas. I want to become a switcher too. I don't make a lot of money, so I'm waiting on the new MacBook. If you want to buy a Mac so bad, just save up some more money. A new iMac is not a NEED for college. Food tastes a lot better when you pay for it with the cash you earned on your own, you know what I mean?
My cousin went to UNT btw. I went to the Univ. of Florida, on a scholarship, and I worked through school for the rest. I know you think you don't have it made from where you're standing. But think about what you're asking of people. There are a lot of people out there who've got it a lot worse off than you do. And you want people to give you money to help you buy a Mac?
If anyone reading this has donated money to help Stefan get an iMac, please tell me why. Seriously.
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What's sad is that if he'd started a blog trying to raise money for charity, he'd never have made it this far with a couple of videos and comments. That being said, anyone who wants to give some money to a cause that's actually worthy, check out
www.pepyride.org
It's a charity started by a couple American and Canadian friends of mine from my time in Japan. They raise money doing cycling trips and organizing adventure travel. So far they've built and staffed a school in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
