the cicadas are going crazy this morning.
phik joey and i had a fun trip to the grocery store today. we got 3 gallons of lemonade, some pretzels, a ton of canada dry, and some special k.
phik said to me, "is this what happens when you go unsupervised in the cereal aisle?"
there was a logistical snafu, and i ended up paying waaaayy too much for the canada dry.
the other day there was a big incident at the subway involving a woman who thought that since the beverage dispensors were not behind the counter, and there was no sign claiming otherwise, that there were free refills. my theory that none of the people who work at subway have every actually been to a subway holds up, as they had never heard of such a concept as free refills. today when phik and i went, there was a big NO FREE REFILLS sign taped to beverage machine.
here is a skit from said subway experience:
ME: and... vinegar and salt and pepper.
WOMAN pours oil onto sandwich
...
WOMAN: would you like any dressing?
PHIK: yes, vinegrette please.
WOMAN pours vinegar onto sandwich
and that's not even the best part.
so phik and i ordered those shuttle boxes to be new OSTs for us at home. we ordered on thursday, and the shuttle cases shipped out from new jersey that afternoon, while the cpu/ram/disks shipped from california. thanks to the internet, i could see that the package from california was in boston on friday night, despite the blackout and such. the cases were in boston saturday morning.
so i was all psyched to get them all today, and whatnot. when i woke up, i checked the tracking pages, and they were all On FedEx Vehicle for Delivery. i went running and took a shower and got to work, and eventually the door buzzer rang so i went.
there were only 2 boxes.
i asked the guy if there was another box, he said no. so, i waited and waited, and checked the status of the third package (the one that was in boston friday!) and it said it was not due for delivery, and was back at the fedex location!
i was shocked. shocked. so, i called fedex to see what was up, and if maybe i could pick it up at the place, since it was only "15" minutes away (according to the pig friends at mapquest). the very nice and helpful woman said the delivery guy probably didn't have time to deliver it, and i could pick it up until 8:30 pm.
now, i don't claim to be a supergenius, but, to me, and i'm just thinking out loud here, it might make sense, if you have 3 packages all going from one building to another, that maybe, you know, put them on the same truck, or something. but that's not really the point.
since my friend nat is in germany, i had to disrupt phik's busy day to zipcar over to fedex. the box did have a cpu and ram for his system, so it wasn't a completely selfish request. through sheer will (as opposed to, say, mapquest's directions, or adequate - even that is a bit much, as i would even have settled for "poor" - road signs, we managed to find the place. i walk in, tell the woman my tracking number, and she tells me this:
"oh, these aren't due for delivery until tomorrow. they were shipped express, not two-day."
and then looks at me as if she's not going to give me the package (that had been in boston since friday).
my mind was reeling. was she really not going to give me the package that had been in boston since friday, just because i didn't get two-day? was i going to have to pay for two-day on the spot, or risk having to wait until tomorrow for the package that was behind the wall?
i was in shock, and my recollection of the next few moments is dim (at best), but either phik or i replied with stories of other packages - shipped the same day, without two-day - arrived at my door that very day, and they didn't arrive in boston until saturday - one full day after this package.
then we brought out the big guns.
we informed her that the sweet and kind woman on the phone - bless her heart - had said we could pick up the package! "don't make her a liar!" phik shouted. "this is all i have!" i cried.
well, i probably don't have to tell you, but we walked out of that building with our package.