Wednesday, December 31, 2014

It's About To Be 2015?! Wow, We Really Are Living In The Future.

Well, here we are at the end of another year. I'm honestly not sure where this one went. It's all something of a blur, really.

As with every year, lots of things happened, good, bad, weird, and tumultuous. In my own life, I suppose the biggest change is that I'm ending the year with fewer internal organs than I started it with. The surgery and recovery were a lot of no fun, although, oddly, at this point it's almost difficult to remember it all, as if it were some sort of bizarre dream. I actually have to remind myself that, oh, yeah, that really happened, when it comes to things like my complete inability to bend over for a couple of weeks. In any case, I am very happy with the results. Not having a uterus is excellent. I don't know why I was ever issued with one in the first place.

Anyway. Here's wishing a very happy New Year to all of you (and your internal organs). If you're celebrating tonight, have fun and be safe. And may you keep right on having fun and being safe in the new year, as well!

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Happy Holidays!

I hope all you Christmas-celebrating folks out there had a good one! Mine was nice. I got some lovely presents -- thank you, various awesome family members! -- and on Christmas Day I got together with some friends, and there was turkey and Doctor Who. And then we watched the last two episodes of The Prisoner, because everyone should have the gift of mind-blowing surrealism at Christmas.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

And Now I Am Tired.

Yay, I am being Christmassy! Presents have all been wrapped and/or mailed off, including the Flying Dutchman Present, which did show up eventually and, with luck, will arrive at its final destination only a day or so late. My Non-Evil Fruitcake is currently in the oven, and, for extra Christmassyness, I managed to spill enough self-rising flour everywhere that for a while it looked as if it had snowed in my kitchen. Festive!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

A Follow-Up

A follow-up to my previous post:

Hooray for some surprisingly classy customer service from the post office! Which, since I'm quick to publicly complain about them when they screw up, I figured deserved some acknowledgement. They sent me a boilerplate "We're sorry, we know you hate not getting your mail" e-mail, which is about what I expected. But the guy in charge of my local PO also called and, since I wasn't home at the time, left a long, informative message on my answering machine explaining exactly what happened and what they were doing about it.

He said he was able to get an image of the address label sent to him -- yay, technology! -- and the address was perfectly correct and legible, so the sender isn't to blame on this one. What happened, apparently, is that the postal clerk at the point of departure entered my zipcode as 78710 rather than 87801, meaning the barcode label on the thing was wrong. Which... is a pretty imaginative typo. Man, that person must have been having a really bad day. I'd be annoyed at them, but, honestly, if I were a postal clerk at this time of the year, I can't help but suspect I might have a few days that bad, myself.

Anyway, I was assured it would make its way to me soon, and sure enough, checking the tracking info now shows it as being here in Socorro, much more quickly than I was expecting. I should presumably have it in the mail tomorrow, which might even mean I can get it where it belongs by Christmas, assuming no more snafus. Yay! And even if it is late, well, the person it's going to used to work for the post office. She totally understands.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Behold, The Christmas Yo-Yo!

It's not really the holidays unless something goes hilariously wrong, right? This year's example:

I bought a present for a family member on ebay, early in the month. The seller mailed it off quickly, and the estimated delivery date was Dec. 12. Just enough time for me to feel fully confident I could get it, wrap it, and send it along to its distant recipient in time for Christmas.

Allow me to share with you the tracking info for this package, as of today. Keep in mind that Albuquerque is the correct place to send it; that's where mail usually comes before being sent out to my local PO. Note, also, that Austin is about 700 miles away from me.

Friday, Dec 19, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Processed through USPS Sort Facility
Wednesday, Dec 17, 2014 ALBUQUERQUE , NM Departed USPS Facility
Wednesday, Dec 17, 2014 ALBUQUERQUE , NM Arrived at USPS Facility
Monday, Dec 15, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Departed USPS Facility
Saturday, Dec 13, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Arrived at USPS Facility
Saturday, Dec 13, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Arrived at USPS Facility
Saturday, Dec 13, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Out for Delivery
Saturday, Dec 13, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Sorting Complete
Saturday, Dec 13, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Arrived at Post Office
Friday, Dec 12, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Departed USPS Facility
Friday, Dec 12, 2014 AUSTIN , TX Arrived at USPS Facility
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2014 CITY OF INDUSTRY , CA Departed USPS Facility
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2014 CITY OF INDUSTRY , CA Arrived at USPS Facility
Sunday, Dec 7, 2014 CLEVELAND , OH Departed USPS Origin Facility
Saturday, Dec 6, 2014 CLEVELAND , OH Arrived at USPS Origin Facility
Saturday, Dec 6, 2014 UNIONTOWN , OH Departed Post Office
Saturday, Dec 6, 2014 UNIONTOWN , OH Acceptance

Yeah. Anybody want to place any bets on how long it's going to do this for? Or whether the Post Office will actually respond to the help request I submitted on their website?

I wonder who they tried to deliver it to in Austin...

(Also, the kicker? The item's ebay page said it was going to be sent FedEx. Probably the seller thought it wouldn't make a difference. HA.)

Thursday, December 11, 2014

How Could I Resist The Time Lord Name Generator?

Get your own time lord name from the time lord name generator!

Your time lord name is: The Monitor

Your original Gallifreyan name is Jodtrisdanuarizadathene, or Jodtris for short. Back on Gallifrey, you led a dull and uninteresting life, working as an Assistant Librarian at the Patrexe Academy – but now, you travel Time and Space in search of adventure!
Your Type 66 TARDIS is currently stuck in disguise as a Coca-Cola vending machine, and your latest travelling companion is a bright-eyed, easily confused English teacher from 1968.
Get your own time lord name from the time lord name generator!

I can totally believe that as my story if I were a renegade Time Lord. Although I can't help wondering what exactly it is I'm monitoring...

Sunday, December 07, 2014

The Last Time I Will Do This This Year

Current clothes: Gray sweatpants. Venture Bros. Guild of Calamitous Intent t-shirt. White socks.

Current mood: Good and relaxed and generally pretty happy. I've had the last five days off work, thanks to a lot of shift-swapping to accommodate people taking time off over the holidays, and it's been wonderful. Almost enough to make up for all the stupid hours I was working last month.

Current music: I don't know what that last song my iPod random-shuffled at me was. There's some odd stuff on there. Hang on, I'm going to look it up. Aha! Apparently it was "Atypura" by Yma Sumac, from The Big Lebowski soundtrack. There you go.

Current annoyance: The fact that I have to go back to work tomorrow. Man, there's nothing like having a few days off to make me wish I were independently wealthy. Or independently middle class. That would be fine.

Current thing: Listening to lots and lots of podcasts. I finally got caught up on the ones I was subscribed to, so I went and subscribed to a bunch more.

Current desktop picture: I have switched it to my traditional holiday wallpaper, featuring the TARDIS with snow on it and a wreath on the door.

Current book: Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould.

Current song in head: "Policy of Truth" by Depeche Mode, "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift, "Every You Every Me" by Placebo and "Everything is Awesome!" from The Lego Movie are currently duking it out for domination of my neurons right now. It is making the inside of my brain kind of an interesting place to live.

Current refreshment: Peach tea.

Current DVD in player: Most recently, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Which was okay. It was fairly ridiculous, but mostly in the ways that superhero movies are supposed to be ridiculous. It did provoke a bizarre combination of reactions from me, though, especially towards the beginning, when I was simultaneously thinking, "Wow, this is a lot of exposition" and "Yeah, I'm sure if I were familiar with the comics I'd know who all these people are." It kept me modestly entertained for a couple of hours, at least, and not just because I kept staring in some kind of weird fascination at Peter Dinklage's amazing 70s 'stache. Mind you, it really needed more Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, but you could probably say that about any movie.

Current worry: I have stopped worrying for the moment, slipping instead into a pleasant, comfortable state of apathy.

Current thought: New episode of Once Upon a Time coming up shortly. Woo-hoo! (Yes, I am a very easy person to please.)