My Plans for the Day!

     I got to sleep in, until almost 8! Right now, the coffee's a'brewin, and I get to relax for a while. Then later, I gots things to do.


     First up, is to throw that bag in the washing machine to felt. I add tennis balls to the wash to help. It usually works pretty well. Also on the agenda for today: Driving to the Post Office to get the mail; shopping for my mom's 80th birthday gift; stopping by the Awesome Store to see if they are still interested in my services; and lastly, going to the local jeweler to see about new batteries for two of mom's watches. She asked me to do it. she didn't know where to go.


    Those are the "out and about" things, then I get to come home and wash dishes and stuff like that. I also get to check on my bag, and either put it through another wash cycle, or throw it in the dryer; also with the tennis balls.


    Whew. That's kind of a big day for me, I usually try to never make plans, because something always happens to muck them up. I can see that once in a while it is necessary, though. Then this coming Sunday, we are all gathering at daughter Sara's house for a little surprise birthday party for my mom. Her birthday is actually on Monday, so hopefully she will be surprised.


    Ten years ago, for her 70th, Sara organized a huge party, out at a restaurant, and the whole family came, even my dad's relatives from upstate. This year, none of us have that kind of cash available. But mom will enjoy herself all the same.

A Postal Rant... Or, The Really Late Birthday Present

    About 9 days ago, I ordered a beautiful, perfectly me, bracelet from a website I found, ebracelets.com. I chose the regular mail option for shipping, because the other choices, FedEx or UPS, cost more than the bracelet did.


   I received my confirmation email on Monday, one week ago, saying that I should receive my package in 1 - 3 days. I made myself wait until Thursday to go to the Post Office and check. There was no package. I even went up to the counter and asked the nice postal clerk, who knows me, to check for me. Still no package.


   When I got home, I re-opened the email, and found a tracking link. This is the most recent tracking info, from Friday night.

    At the bottom, you can see they shipped it from Westport CT. on 8/28. It only took 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to Jersey City, NJ. The line above that one shows when it left Jersey City. My question would be WHY THE FRACK DID IT NEED TO SIT IN FRACKING JERSEY CITY FOR 60 FRACKING HOURS??


    Following the chart up one more line, we see that it took another 22 hours to get to another city in NJ, Kearny, where it sat for a mere 5 minutes. That is the last time it was tracked. Friday fracking night. Just for shits and giggles, I checked the mail again on Saturday. My package still wasn't there.


   Being justifiably upset, I sent off an email to the bracelet company. I realize it's not really their fault, but an unhappy customer might not order from them again. The response I got was disappointing, to say the least. The owner patted himself on the back for shipping my package so quickly, "YAY team", and stated it's not his  fault if the mail is slow. He also sort of said it was more my own fault, since I chose the shipping method. Huh?


    I have always had pretty good luck with the Postal Service in general, with the exception of our local Post Office. See one of my very early posts for that story. This whole thing has left a very bad taste in my mouth, and I will probably not order from them again. I feel the least they could have done was appologise, and perhaps offer free upgraded shipping on my next order.


    This bracelet was my birthday present to myself. The earliest I will get it will be tomorrow, 5 days after my birthday. My advice to you all is IF you decide to order an awesome bracelet from ebracelets.com, go for the upgraded shipping. It seems it might just be worth it, to not get so aggravated.