Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Tuesday

On tuesday I woke up and found my cellphone charged in the bathroom. It was there because Bryan "Zriest" P. wanted Zriest to get some more XP and had sent me a text message "What are you doing now?". This was while I was cycling, and the battery went dead, so I had to charge it. After cycling I usually need to use the restroom (ok, I had to pee). As the message of Bryan "Zriest" P. still read "What are you doing now?" I sent back that I was... (ok, peeing). After that he insisted that I help him get XP, but sadly for him food was a more pressing priority. I took the cell phone and put it in its carry case and moved it to my pants, so it could travel with me that tuesday. I then went through the usual routine, except for printing the address of my sister on a big box, which contained a Mutsy Sitter and baby clothes. As her second son is growing rapidly, she needed the sitter soon. I also synced my GPS with the computer, to store the trip I made to Yosemite (though it was a valley, and sattelite reception was not very good). I then used plastic twine (which Miuty enjoyed greatly, and is still enjoying greatly) and tied the box to my bike, and cycled to the post office in Belmont. Halfway I discovered that I did not have my cell phone with me.

I did have my bank pass in the left pocket, together with money, as I went to an ATM, as I was expecting postage for the big box to be rather high (it turned out to be $42.60). I also had my bag in the bag of the bicycle, the big box, and clothes on. I became a tad scared that my cell phone might've dropped on the floor in the hallway while I was tying the box to the bicycle. On the other hand, it could have never made it on my belt, as I changed into a fresh pair of pants. So I decided to press on, and arrived at the post office. There I immediately started filling out the usual green customs form, and when I was almost done, the person behind the counter handed me another form: "Big form for big box" he said. So I filled out the big form as well. I mailed the box, continued to work, where all my coding went rather well. I also checked the Newegg website for the hard drive that was supposed to arrive. I wanted to reinstall Windows on a fresh drive, as my old drive had a wierd spyware virus on it, which I disabled, but which still tried to start Internet Explorer every second. Their site didn't work, but give me a number which looked suspiciously like a UPS tracking number, so I entered it on the UPS site, and they said it was out for delivery. My sister also confirmed that I had sent the box with her stuff to the right address, which was a relief, because I never know which number they live at.

In the evening I went back home, where I found a UPS truck in front of my apartment. I asked the driver if he had my hard drive, he asked me who I was, and it turned out he was holding the drive in his hands. I gave my ID, signed the electronic signing device, and took the hard drive. He said he left a note on my door, and that I could've called the number too, and he would've brought it to my work. This is why I like UPS over FedEx: FedEx refuses to go to your door, and instead leaves the note in an impossible place. FedEx also refuses to have the recipient change the address where the package goes to, and requires you to go to the sender to change this. FedEx also has an incomprehensible phone system that never gives the option you want, and when you get to speak someone, it still doesn't help. Fortunately, Newegg allows you to choose. Once I got upstairs with all the stuff, (although the box was a lot smaller than the one I left with), I even found my cell phone, which was near the pants that I decided not to wear.

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