Verbosity

I'll Get You My Pretty--and Your Little Panda, too!!!!
last modified: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 (2:40:20 AM)
*Though RS might say that this blog was posted on 8/31, I actually typed it on 8/30. So, all of these events happened yesterday. Silly time difference. XD*

I finally got my Rinkya shipment in today--after a complete and total runaround yesterday. So I'm happy--but mildly irritated all at once.

So apparently, the USPS express person tried to deliever on Sunday. Since I'm living on campus, all of the mail goes through the UPS store on campus, about a mile from my dorm. Since I'm in what's comsidered an "outpost" dorm, they don't deliever my mail until about 5:30-5:45; the UPS store closes at 6:00.

Now, I've had experience with foreign packages coming in to the dorms. I usually get a pink slip in my mailbox, then I have to get my butt down to the post office and pick it up. I've never had EMS shipped here before, but I figured the same rules would apply. Anyway, when I saw that they had tried to deliever on Sunday (which in and of itself sounds weird), I figured I'd try to avoid the crap that the UPS store puts me through and just go over to the store to pick up my pink slip.

I've been told before that if I bring the tracking number, I can pick up packages no matter what. Apparently, that's not true. After spending about ten minutes explaining to the worker what I wanted, she tried looking up the number and apparently it "hadn't been processed yet." Well, okay, so I'll just go down to the post office, because I know that if you let EMS sit too long, they'll send it back--and I'm not paying an extra $60 to have it shipped again.

So, I decide to leave around 4:00--it gives me enough time to get to post office before it closes, and avoid the last minute package-senders and mid-day heat. So I get on my bike to begin the four-five mile ride down to the post office. Now, for some reason, there's a closer post office that is in a better neighborhood, but we use the one that's about five miles away. I start heading east, avoiding all eye contact as this is the street I've had more transients hit on me than anywhere else, and start feeling a little sore in my arms. My brother had just put a new seat on the bike, and it was annoying, but not too bad. Despite my late start, it's still probably around 105-110 degrees, and I'm getting that, "Oh crap, did I pass it?" feeling that I always get when I head to this particular post office.

So, with a nice lovely sheet of sweat running down my forehead, and my arms aching, I head into the post office to find a huge line. XP Luckily, there was a worker who was only doing package pick-ups--so no waiting for me. I give her the tracking number, but she can't find it. Appaerntly, it's still on the express truck. But, she says I can come back at 7:00 am the next day and it will definately be there. So my five mile ride is fruitless . . . and I've got another five miles to go.

On the way back, I become thoroughly convinced that my bike seat is on wrong, because I am putting far too much pressure on my arms--they actually still are a little sore. When I hit a red light, I reach back for my water and discover that it has become the temperature of those famous outdoor Japanese baths. X0 So by the time I get home, my arms are in excrutiating pain, I've got a steady stream of sweat running down my face (attractive, ne?), and I'm pretty sure that the tops of my feet are sunburnt where they weren't protected by my flip-flops. At least, it felt like they were getting burnt the whole way home.

So, what the heck, I decide to get up early (not that I'm getting any sleep with my roommate the way she is) this morning and head down to the post office before class. I decide to check on my package online and find out that they actually DID deliever it yesterday. For *anything* that I have to sign for, I've always had to go down to the post office and pick it up, because the UPS employees have *never* signed for it before. But hey, at least I didn't have to make two trips . . .

So, anyway, I