There is nothing worth arguing over here, but I do want to point out a couple of things.
1) I want to be really clear that I never set out to "make a charity" of myself. I posted that in Gear Talk because I had just read about the new Bacons and thought they were sweet. It was late in the evening and I was just posting about how cool they were. I never once thought "If I feign really wanting a pair but just post about how cool they are I bet people will give me money!"
2) You really shouldn't judge. You shouldn't, in any way, be presumptious about what I do with my money. I never talk about it because the purpose of giving is to bless the recipient, not to puff up the giver. But, I do want to give a couple of examples.
1) Last year I saved up all year, putting aside a little money here and there to upgrade my skis. I ended up with a few hundred bucks, plus the skis I had at the time, which were worth about $200. Then, a super nice rep for Orage/Line was selling a pair of Prophet 100s with a limited top sheet - and he gave me a sick deal to boot. I even had a mismatching pair of black and white STH 16s I couldn't wait to mount on them. At that time someone I knew was going through some financial hardship - he two months behind on his mortgage and even had his water shut off at one point. He is a hard working guy with a wife and three kids but had some unfortunate stuff happen. I knew it was the right thing to do, so I sold both the Prophet 100s and bindings, bought a pair of skis and bindings for $250, and gave him the difference.
2) A couple of months ago I worked with a guy who had three kids and had recently taken in two foster kids who were in a really bad situation (their father left them in a burning house. he is now in prison for 15 years). Though the family didn't really have the means to do it, they took the kids anyway. They live in a very small home, and there were three kids sleeping in the same room. They needed more space. I not only helped him build a bedroom in the basement, but paid for all the materials myself, to the tune of a few hundred dollars.
Could I find money to buy myself a brand new pair of skis? Perhaps. But, I don't have it for a reason. I don't buy new gear, I find it used during the summer. AND, I usually then turn around and sell it for a good price on NS to help out other skiers.
So, I hope you are able to support your cause without detracting from a really, really nice thing a bunch of people did for one guy by helping him get a pair of ridiculously awesome skis. As you can see, I don't just take money and throw it down the toilet, so the fact that people hooked me up with this was like a Christmas present I'd never get or buy for myself. I am still shocked at how generous and encouraging people were in getting me these.
