eBay or Google? Let me count the ways ...

I'm not sure which Web site I love more, eBay or Google.

Google allows me with a touch of a button to search for former classmates, former boyfriends, friends' former boyfriends, former friends' former boyfriends, co-worker's former boyfriends (Ok, you get the point), lyrics to songs I loved when I was 15 and much more.

A random question pops into my head at any given moment like, what the heck is the name of the foster dad on the 80's television show, "Punky Brewster," I can find out instantly. (Duh, Henry Warnimont, played by actor George Gaynes. Thanks, Google.) I no longer have to retain any irrelevant pop culture trivia in my head. Or anything of any real importance, really.

I love eBay because I can purchase the dumb stuff I wanted as a child but could never own and the dumb stuff I had but no longer own. And dumb stuff I never thought I'd ever want to own but do now.

Take my Amy Carter Peanut Doll. I was about 8 or 9 years old back in 1979-1980 and was a huge fan of President Jimmy Carter. I wrote to him, he sent me back some White House literature. We bonded, me and Jimmy. He sent me a booklet about his daughter, Amy, growing up in the White House.

Now of course it was some White House intern who probably sent this stuff to me, including the president's fake autograph, but I became a Democrat that very day and later, before Jimmy Carter lost the election to Pres. Ronald Reagan, I campaigned for him on the playground at school. "Tee for two, Carter's for you." C'mon, I was a kid.

Well, around that time my mom bought me an Amy Carter Peanut Doll, which she now swears I'm making up since no one in my family recalls me ever owning such a thing. But I remember how much I loved that doll. My Amy Carter doll fit in the palm of my hand and arrived in her own plastic peanut. Of course the doll looks nothing like Amy Carter but I loved it.

My doll met an untimely demise after my dad spilled his Fleischmann's whiskey and Coke on her. She got drenched in alcohol in her little plastic peanut and she smelled so bad, like a drunken sailor, that I had to throw her out.

Fast forward to 2006 and I found an Amy Carter Peanut Doll on eBay and paid about $13 for the doll, including shipping and handling. I'm attaching a photo of my new doll because frankly my co-workers think I'm making the whole thing up, that coupled with the fact that my mom doesn't believe I ever owned one.

But I do...once again. Thanks to eBay. And this doll is going to remain sober.

(Sorry, I had technical difficulties and couldn't post my photo to this post ... so click on this link to check out my Amy Carter Peanut Doll.)