DHL's Holiday Spirit

So after 2 weeks without my copy of Leopard arriving in the mail I was starting to wonder. I was promised express shipping from Apple which generally takes less then 2 weeks. I would've called them sooner but it was Christmas and all so I figured that it might take more time.

At the two week mark I decided it was time to call them and get another copy sent out. So I called at 9:05 a.m. But then I got a message telling me that I had called outside of normal business hours. Say what? It was now 9:05... What's going on? I kept calling thinking that there was a problem with their phone systems.

Now I should interrupt this to say that a friend of mine was also checking into the status for me. So at 9:30 in the morning I got an email with the shipping information from DHL. It was supposedly delivered on December 20th. Hmm... that's interesting since it sure as hell wasn't in my nice, little hands. I head downstairs to the super's office to make sure that it wasn't hiding there anywhere... even though he's good about calling me and had already told me to pick up 2 other packages. Nope, nothing there. Then I look up the tracking information. The signature looks like it says Robert. No one in the office with that name. So I figure that either the DHL guy saw Apple and decided to scoop it... or he took on the role of Santa Claus and just randomly handed it out to someone. After all I have heard there is no local DHL office so he would've had to drive here. And who wants to do that? Spread the holiday cheer.... give out free stuff....

Any ways... my friend also reminded me that they were only open from 10:00 to 6:00 since it was New Years Eve. Now why couldn't the voice message when you call in be changed to reflect that? Makes me wonder how many people called after they closed and then kept trying since it was before the normal 9:00 p.m. close. So I called back at 10:00 and was on a nice long mute hold... repeatedly. Spent most of the call on a mute hold (for those that have never worked in a call center it means that they press the mute button so you hear nothing at all... instead of a hold where you get music... you are not supposed to use mute as a hold) and after 20 minutes they had sent out a new disk to me and told me there was a problem processing the original order. I am guessing that there were problems with sending out the fulfilments for new disks. But, in my case, I already know that it was processed, shipped, and delivered.... just not to me.

Hopefully by the end of the week I have my nice new cat (don't worry Azrael I still love you) and will be busy installing it. Good thing I wasn't in a rush for it. I still have to finish backing everything up. Now if only Shapeshifter was compatible with it. Just checked... still not compatible. :( But I think that everything else I use is.... If not well I might be going back to the other pretty cat I have... in Tiger. Will update when I get my new package. I love mail...

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I wanted to decorate the post with holly and wreathes but since I'm not exactly at home I can't actually add in any pictures to the post. Maybe later before I go to bed... if I remember... which isn't likely. Going Boxing Day shopping after work today. Hope you all are doing well :)

Chocolate Christmas Calendars

I suddenly feel like going out and picking up one of those Advent calendars not so I can count down the days to Christmas but so I can get that piece of chocolate that is behind each door. Mmm.... chocolate. Not sure why I am craving it at the moment. I don't really eat a lot of chocolate.

Now what prompted me to think about advent calendars and the chocolate contained within it? Back to the world of Yahoo news. Seems the city of Hanover in Germany created an advent calendar. No big deal right? Except that their advent calendar includes a serial killer on it. I think I'll take the coal in my stocking from Santa Claus over the serial killer. The picture is a cartoon representation of Haarmann lurking under a tree and there is a hatchet next to the door on the calendar. The calendar is full of famous people from Hanover. But a serial killer?

Kind of makes me wonder what you get when you open that door. Do you get a chocolate? Do you get some other reminder of Christmas? Do you get fake teeth since he killed his victims by biting their necks?

Last time I checked advent calendars were usually for children. So if you survive the serial killer on December 1 you might then move on to a philosopher or musician. I think I'd be traumatized by the experience. And in case you're wondering about how the calendar is doing. Since it went public the city's tourism board has been receiving orders from all over Europe and they expect to sell out soon.

Christmas Presents

Just wanted to put up some pictures of the Christmas presents I received from Christie. With the candle I was given instructions to try not to burn the apartment down. And John told me if I do... then I should at least take Azrael with me *lol*. The dolphin is part of a book bracelet. It adds some variety instead of the traditional bookmark. I almost feel like I should get a matching anklet.... or at least one that is similar.

I don't have pictures of the other presents but mom gave me some socks, cloths, and gift certificates for Sobeys/IGA/Price Chopper. Definitely helpful since it meant my groceries were covered for this week... or at least almost covered. Mom also paid for lunch the other day. From Suzanne and Dave I also got a book on Einstein in his own words. It's pretty cool. I really like quotes.

Presents aren't the be-all and end all... It was actually just nice to be able to spend time with my family and friends over the holiday season. I don't do that often enough... Almost wish I had my full license and a car so I could visit people more often, especially Suzanne and Dave since they actually live out of town. Maybe one of these days. :o)

Christmas Magnets

The year of the magnet continues. Apparently everyone decided I need more magnets. For Christmas I got the Coca-Cola magnet from Christie. I'm thinking it could also double as a weapon. It's definitely one of the coolest magnets I have. Then Suzanne and Dave gave me the cat ones which I already posted about here. Lastly, mom gave me the Winnie the Pooh notepad to hang on the fridge. So it seems to be a common trend this year... 3 different people. And I can't remember the last time someone gave me magnets as a present, aside from my birthday any ways.

Family Christmas

Finally had a family Christmas. I was starting to feel pretty lonely hearing everyone else talk about where they went for Christmas. Suzanne, Dave and Annika got here just after noon. Looks like they had better like finding the place then UPS did but any ways. Gave them the grand tour since it takes about 30 seconds. Annika was trying to make friends with Azrael. That didn't go quite as well. He wasn't sure what to think. He's never really been aound kids. From Annika I got a crystal cube with a dolphin image inside. Once I have AAA batteries it will light up. Not sure where to put it though. Don't want Azrael knocking it over. From Suzanne and Dave I got a Coke box that looks like a vending machine. They filled it with chocoloate so if anyone wonders why I have so much energy when I am at work next... too much chocolate *lol*

We all went out for a late lunch with mom before she had to go to work. It was the first time we had all been together in quite some time. I think the last time I saw Suzanne and Dave was last Christmas. It was a pretty short visit since mom had to be at work for 4:30 and Suzanne and Dave didn't want to be driving home in freezing rain. But it was nice to see them again and spend some time with family. Leaves me enough time to get my errands done as well.

I also talked to dad for quite a while today. When he called earlier today I wasn't exactly awake. I hadn't had any caffeine yet so I really didn't have much to say. I called him back this evening and it was a nice conversation. I hadn't really talked to him in quite some time since calling someone after being on the phones so much during the day just isn't what I want to do. Overall it was basically a family day. Going to run my errands shortly and then relax for the remainder of the evening... I think any ways. We'll see how that plan goes.

Christmas Dinner

I was starting to think I had hit the bottom of the gene pool with some of the customers at work today. Overall it wasn't a bad day though. It was steady and then just died right off so I was allowed to go home early. As much as I liked the money I was making it was nice to go home and just relax. Made all my phone calls so I could enjoy the evening.

Dawn brought me in a case of Coke. The turkey wasn't done in time so she went with the second option. It was pretty sweet. Bribery works well in my books. *lol* And since it was Christmas Day I gave all my agents a break. I was there to help them if they needed it but wasn't doing any call evaluations. Same with tomorrow. The three hours of coaching time goes by pretty quick any ways. I can always find other things to do.

No turkey for me this year. But I did have a roast for dinner, along with parmesan noodles, broccoli and cauliflower. I also had mozza sticks before that. Had to test out the deep fryer and all. Then watched Bourne Ultimatium to relax. Back to work tomorrow and I expect it will be insane with people that didn't realize we were open today... and people that were busy today.

Still trying to decide what to do with my incentive... and Christmas money. My DVD box sets are pretty much covered by trade-ins at Blockbuster. I keep thinking about computer parts but they're all expensive. I'm basically going to be building a new system but it's not a cheap endeavour. So we'll see... still weighing my options. Likely going to hold off for a while until I can get everything I need.

Now that I spent an hour looking at useless crap on eBay it's about time I head off to bed. So it's off to dreamland I go.