Heartfelt Love for the USPS

I know, it's been forever since I've written. And I'm feeling a tad guilty since Clarity is sicker than a dog and is updating. I have no excuse except that I was actually busy at work last week (mainly because I had postponed doing a project for three weeks which had Friday as its deadline) and was busy at home. I also haven't gotten Word downloaded onto the home pc since the great Ethernet card mess. I like to type in Word before downloading into diaryland.

I was busy at home because I was having a "The Body Shop" party at my house on Wednesday and I had to clean. Once a year I have people over to make myself clean and last week was the week. The apt. is now as close to spotless as it gets, and I'm bound and determined to keep it such! Tonight when I go home, I'm taking the cardboard boxes downstairs to my storage unit (basically a repository of cardboard boxes) and might even sweep up the dining room floor – or at the very least Dustbuster it! I'll Dustbuster the bathroom floor as the kids aren't very good at keeping the litter in the box!

My plan is to keep the apartment clean because my friend Kathleen from SF is coming to visit me for New Year's Eve. I'm very excited! I wrote to her last month (I was only three billion months late on that letter) and she responded quite quickly and I got her letter last Monday whereupon she mentioned that she was interested in visiting! I was so geeked that I called her immediately knowing full well that there was a three hour time difference and that she wouldn't be home from work yet. I left her a message saying Hell yes! A visit would be FABULOUS! I would have waited until she had gotten home, but with my cleaning frenzy I was scared that I would forget to call her. She e-mailed me the next day saying she had gotten a ticket! Yay!!!! So, now to find something to do that's fun and exciting for NYE! She comes in Thursday, Dec. 30 and is scheduled to leave on Monday, January 3. I wish she were coming for a longer period of time, but Detroit in late December/early January isn't really all that forgiving, weather-wise.

My weekend wasn't all that exciting. Friday was miserably cold and rainy and normally is the type of day where I will NOT leave the house, but I had things to do, so I ventured out into the shittiness! I had the most adorable knitting pumpkin hat to deliver to my cousin's baby, and as I hadn't been over there in almost two weeks, a visit was a good thing. I didn't get to hold Aidan at all, but next time I'm staking my claim!!!

After that I headed over to Grandma's for dinner (tomato sandwiches – yummy!) and a visit with G'ma and Aunt Pat (visiting from LA). We managed to avoid a political discussion which is always a good thing as Aunt Pat is one of those unthinking Republicans. We had an argument one Christmas where she had to leave the house she was so angry at me. The argument was about the Rosie O'Donnell/Tom Selleck show where Rosie supposedly blind-sided poor little Tom Selleck about his NRA ties and the Columbine tragedy. I was told recently that Tom Selleck knew exactly what the questions were going to be. And I'm sorry, even not knowing that, I didn't feel sorry for him. He's an outspoken member of the NRA at a time which was definitely fraught with tension about gun control. I had no problem with her questioning him about it, but my Aunt about blew a gasket going on and on about how horrible Rosie is, blah blah blah! That's when she had to go outside for a cigarette to calm down. This same Christmas she gave my brother a coffee table type book on Ronald Reagan. I would have left the house if the walk from San Mateo to San Francisco hadn't been such a long one – and we had had dinner!

But this past Friday we managed not to discuss crap like that and I had a very pleasant time with Grandma and her. It's always good to spend time with Grandma. She's so darn cute.

Oh yeah, have I told you how much I hate UPS! And I'm not all that pleased with one of my neighbors either. UPS has a policy of NOT leaving packages in apt. bldgs. regardless of your signature indicating it is okay to leave the package. Oh so convenient in this day and age. Anyway, I had a little yellow/brown slip on Wednesday and when it shows up on Wednesday I don't stress too much because I don't work most Fridays so I can be home to get the bloody thing. Oh yeah, on that Wednesday, there was a little yellow/brown slip for somebody else in the building. When I got home on Thursday there was only my slip. Hmmm…… My slip indicated that the UPS man would be attempting the delivery of my package for the third and final time Friday between 10:30 and 2:00. I made sure I was up and out of the shower by 10:30, hoping against hope that he'd be there early. Yeah, right.

So, at 1:20 I'm still waiting and I'm furious, because I have better things to do than sit around and wait for Brown to deliver my freaking package. Oh yeah, if I'm not home to get the package, they will conveniently hold it for me for a week at their facility on Cicotte in Detroit. Now, there aren't many locations in Detroit to which I won't venture, but this one. I went there once before many years ago and swore I would never do it again. There is nothing I've having delivered that is worth risking my life, thank you very much!!!!

So, anyway, at 1:20 I put on my jacket and I'm getting ready to take stuff to my car so that once my package arrives I can get a move on! As I walk down the walk, I look to my left and see a stupid brown truck come around the corner. I walked back into the bldg to wait for him. Sure, I could have stood on the curb but it was raining and cold and miserable and I was going to make him walk to me, dammit!!! "You waiting on me? I'm sorry." No shit, Sherlock!!! So, while I'm signing I ask him if he delivered a package the previous day. He's clueless for a second and then remembers, "Oh yes, she was reluctant to sign for your package." *sigh* I think I'll have to have a chat with her the next time I see her. Come on, people! We're in this UPS shit together! I wouldn't hesitate to sign for a package for her.

I have a message to amazon.com and DVDempire and all over Internet shopping sites: Your customers work! It is not convenient for you to use UPS to ship to people who work normal working hours and can't sit at home for 3 hours waiting. People are busy! And not all of us can ship to work. That is all.

I thank god regularly for the United States Postal Service who leaves packages. Thank you, USPS!!!