| UPS Fail |
[Dec. 21st, 2009|09:59 am] |
I've seriously had it with UPS. I think I want to write a nasty note to their CEO or something.
It's one thing if the packages are legitimately lost in transit; I can see that happening, they have a lot of packages. But seriously, what's with posting on the tracking status that it has been delivered if you never delivered it??? The way the system works is it has to be scanned by the carrier when they drop it off to be electronically checked off as delivered, right? So that means that if I'm home at the time that they say they dropped it at the door and it is not on the doorstep, then the package carrier is a lazy asshat who scanned my box, but didn't actually get out of his truck? That's the only explanation I can come up with. WTF?? Why is this so hard??? And why does it seem to happen so frequently with UPS?
So yeah, UPS apparently lost the Christmas gift I sent to my mom...except they are a bunch of ass-covering tards so they marked it off as having been delivered already (and what, the squirrels made off with it when we weren't looking?). I'm guessing this is their ploy. They're like "shit...we lost a couple of boxes. Erm...mark them as delivered and then we can say we have no idea what happened to them without actually having to look for them." Or my favorite from last year was that they sent me a green postcard saying that they had attempted delivery three times the week after Christmas and were unable to deliver because we weren't home to sign for the box...except Jess was staying over that week, so there was someone there to sign...plus, they never left one delivery attempt tag, so we wouldn't have even known to go pick up the box had we not been home. Ridiculous.
Everyone whines about USPS, but I've never had a problem with them. At least they are honest about my package being completely lost when they can't find it.
On the up side, Macys.com has very good customer service. I told them that the package never arrived,even though the tracking thingy says it did (arg!), and they said they would try to resend the order...except the item that I ordered was now completely out of stock. So they lady said that if I was at my computer I could look to see if there are any other items that I might like instead that they could send. Of course, the only other items that looked comparable to what I wanted that weren't a million dollars were also out of stock. Poop. But they promptly offered me a refund (cost of item and shipping!) and apologized for the inconvenience. So at least I'm not out of pocket and without a gift.
Maybe I'll hit the Macy's here during lunch and see what they have...or if they don't have anything I could get a gift card or something instead. Kind of the last thing I wanted to be worrying about the day before I fly home, but çe la vie. |
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| Booklist Update |
[Dec. 15th, 2009|03:01 pm] |
I realized while going back through old posts that I kind of stopped posting my booklist. The list turns over today for a new year (started keeping track on December 15, 2003!) so I thought I'd post an update for the year. I used to link to prior years, but since I haven't posted since August '08 I'm just going to post this years list. Maybe next year I'll do links again. I've highlighted my favorite reads this year, the ones that really stood out and that I've been shoving into peoples' hands, in blue, in case anyone is interested. I didn't read quite as many books as last year, but I read almost 2,500 more pages. I'm blaming that on the Diana Gabaldon books since they are all monstrously long (I swear my wrists were about to fall off reading the last two). A pretty good balance of young adult, fantasy, mystery and classic on the list. I even read a bit of Romance this year (although those Outlander books don't know what they are, really...time-traveling adventure romance historical fiction). Here's hoping next year is an even better reading year =)
( Booklist Update ) |
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| Bits and Pieces |
[Dec. 15th, 2009|02:16 pm] |
I really like this sentiment, I wanted to capture it before I lost it. From an article in the L.A. Times about new editions of old books:
"Oh, books! May they circulate as ubiquitously as quarters or flu viruses, passed from hand to hand, friend to friend, alluring, surprising, occasionally dangerous. If need be, for the sake of forests, may they be shredded and reborn, only to be dropped in the bathtub, fished out, dried, read again, disdained, overlooked, remembered, loved." ---Jane Smiley
And I wanted to say something about the totally freaky fire in the kitchen (not a kitchen fire, exactly, but I was in the kitchen and there was fire) on Friday. I was finishing up dinner, moving the chicken from the crockpot to a serving dish and toasting up some little bread slices to go with the garlic and cheese (made 40 clove chicken). The first go for the toast bits didn't quite toast them so I put them in just a minute more. Yeah, forgot about the whole toaster is already hot and thus gets extra hot when you turn it back on thing. So I turn from the chicken to get a spoon and see smoke tendrils in the toaster. So I turn it off and open the door to grab the toast pieces and WHOOOSH!! They catch fire. I oxygenated the inside of the toaster when I opened the door...and then couldn't get the damn things to go out! And couldn't really pull them out because there were like nine little toast pieces in there, all of which were on fire. As the smoke started to build, I kind of freaked and ran for assistance...except everyone was in the garage (probably not the best plan, but my brain was sort of freaking out). Then there were two of us staring at the flaming toast pieces in the toaster and I decided that we really had no choice but to get them out of the toaster, so I grabbed a spatula and lifted the entire rack out of the toaster (with Greg going "what are you doing?!!")...and then didn't know what to do with it. So I ran for the door, dropping flaming toast bits on the way (which Greg stamped out quickly), and tossed the whole thing into the rain. And then had a second heart attack when I realized practically the whole house was filled with smoke and we needed the fans on and windows open. Very scary. Also scary was the fact that there was that much smoke throughout the house and the smoke detectors didn't go off (apparently we need to be seriously on fire to set them off...good to know). And now I'm a little afraid of the toaster. Greg says we should write in to Black&Decker and let them know that their new toaster oven design is not at all safe (this is the second time we've lit toast on fire in that toaster oven since we got in September). My brain (the engineering design side, which was miraculously functioning through the adrenaline) ran toward suggesting they put in a smoke detecting kill switch in their next model to prevent such a hazard.
And I want to evangelize the movie Food, Inc. If you haven't seen it, I think it's important that you do. Its an investigative journalism style documentary about the state of the American food system with contribution from Michael Pollan (the Berkeley professor who wrote In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (the journalist who wrote Fast Food Nation). I was more than a little bit appalled after watching it. The manipulation and control of the big business behind our food is really scary (did you know business can patent genetically modified crops and then sue farmer's who aren't paying them for their seeds if the plants cross pollinate??). I feel like we've been subconsciously aware that something was wrong with our food (all the packaged products and such), but it was shocking just how far that really extends. As Lea said, makes you want to go out and shop at a farmer's market.
That's about it for me today. A little bit all over the place, but I haven't posted in a while. |
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