Behind the 'online purchasing' times

I received season 4 of "Quantum Leap" Tuesday.

Wow is all I can say. I am one season away from completing the series and my brain will officially become "swiss cheese."

I have long been a fan of the television show, "Quantum Leap."

The series ran from March 1989 to May 1993, spanning five seasons and 96 total episodes.

When I was younger, I loved to tune in every week to see the latest adventure involving Dr. Sam Beckett and Admiral Al Calavicci, portrayed by Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell respectively.

One week, Sam was transported into the life of a child who had to keep his parents together. Another week, he found himself in prison trying to fight for his life.

The "Swiss Cheese" brain complex for Sam was always funny. In addition, throughout the course of the show, he met several famous people, including Chubby Checker, Buddy Holly, Stephen King, Jack Kerouac and Elvis Presley, among many others.

The science fiction show won several awards during its heyday, including Golden Globes for both Stockwell and Bakula.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine started taping episodes of the television show off the SyFy network.

He eventually transferred the video to DVD and was only missing a handful of episodes.

Just last year, I decided I was going to start collecting the television series on DVD.

I elected to use Amazon.com as an outlet to purchase the seasons at a relatively cheap price, since the five seasons were rather pricey at stores.

I know of several people who use Amazon to purchase everything from CDs to train sets.

But I have long been hesitant to join the ever-growing group of people who purchase items online.

For some reason, throughout the years, I thought it might be better to buy items in person at stores of all sorts.

But I elected to try this and see how it worked.

For the first two seasons, it worked wonderfully. But I purchased seasons 1 and 2 through Amazon itself.

Then I saw one day in January that seasons 3 and 4 were available from a private seller on Amazon at an amazing price.

I thought, 'self, if you can purchase these seasons for less than $40, you're well on your way to completing the set.'

I caved in and purchased seasons 3 and 4 from a private seller who had a 99 percent rating from other people on Amazon.

Remember, I didn't have much experience purchasing anything online.

Well, a few weeks passed. By Feb. 12, the final target date to receive the two seasons in the mail, came and went.

I immediately contacted the private seller, to which I was informed the items must have "been lost in the mail," since I should have already had them.

After I was told two more would be mailed out to me, I became increasingly skeptical.

Interestingly enough, when getting on Amazon.com, this private seller's rating had plummeted in recent weeks.

To put it simply, it appeared I had been taken.

I contacted Amazon and asked for a refund as I decided it wasn't worth waiting any longer for a couple of items that I was sure were not coming.

The refund eventually was granted and I am grateful.

Initially, I was again hesitant to purchase items online.

One Saturday afternoon, I happened to be in a local CD/DVD used store and saw season 3 of "Quantum Leap," available at a very reasonable price.

I grabbed it for purchase. Less than $20 more than 20 episodes of time-traveling.

Twenty-plus hours of heaven.

Then, one Sunday afternoon, I found myself again on Amazon checking out prices for seasons 4 and 5.

I found one, for under $30. And I purchased it.

It's supposed to arrive sometime this week.

Hopefully.