Samsung strikes again in my battle to get my cell phone back. I 
mentioned earlier about the problems I've had trying to get them to repair it. Apparently, they've done the repairs and sent my phone back to me. However, they did a really stupid thing when they shipped it. In fact, this is a huge pet peeve of mine with companies that ship product in general. That is, without telling me or asking me if I wanted them to, they shipped it via UPS with SIGNATURE REQUIRED by me in person. First off, who the hell is home all day long and can just wait for UPS to show up? Secondly, my other option would be to pick it up at the UPS hub (which is not close to me at all) and when would I have time to do that? So basically, they've shipped me something that I can never possibly receive, and I never asked them to do it. It's a cell phone for god's sake, and it doesn't even have a battery or a SIM card with it. Leave it on the porch. It's not top secret government papers or a $1000 item. Luckily, I was able to call UPS and get them to reroute it to my work address. Unfortunately, it will now take an additional two days before I get my phone back. It's supposed to come Friday. It would be nice to have it back when I go out of town.
I also mentioned yesterday that I'm traveling home to Portland for the weekend. The truth is, I'm from Vancouver. It's a city in Washington state that sits just on the other side of the Columbia River (and the state border) from Portland, Oregon. It's a Portland suburb, even though it's in another state. It's only a 10 minute drive from Vancouver to downtown Portland. It's a frustrating town to be from, though. Here's how a conversation goes when I meet someone new:
THEM: So, where are you from?
ME: Vancouver.
THEM: Oh! You're Canadian, eh?
ME: No...it's in Washington.
THEM: Cool! Washington D.C.?
ME: Um...no. It's right outside of Portland.
THEM: Oh! I see...you're from Maine.
ME: (frustrated pause) Yes. I'm Canadian.
In fact, I have friends at work who have known me for 6-7 years who until recently, always thought I was Canadian. Maybe the hockey throws them off.
Speaking of hockey, when I'm in town, I'll have the pleasure of going to see the Portland Winterhawks play. The Winterhawks are part of the WHL (Western Hockey League), one of the
three leagues that make up the Canadian Major Junior hockey league. There are only 5 American teams in the league, and besides Portland, they are all Washington state teams. I love watching Junior level hockey. It's so much better than the NHL. The kids are 15-20 years old, and they don't get paid. They come from all over the world and stay with families in the area called Billet families, and earn money toward an education. Since they don't get paid, they're playing purely for the love of the sport. My friend, Melanie, has had season tickets since she was a kid and never misses a game. In fact, she introduced me to hockey and I never saw an NHL game until I moved to Los Angeles.
The song for the day is "Come Back And Stay" by Paul Young. Young, a British singer, was certainly more well known for other hits like "Every Time You Go Away," but I always liked this one better. It comes from his 1983 release No Parlez. I don't remember the guy having that many hits, to be honest, but he must have been pretty big in the UK since they included him in the "Feed The World" project by Band Aid, which also included so many of the hugest performers of the day from England. "Come Back And Stay" is much grittier and urgent than Young's usual pop fare, and for me, much more enjoyable.
mentioned earlier about the problems I've had trying to get them to repair it. Apparently, they've done the repairs and sent my phone back to me. However, they did a really stupid thing when they shipped it. In fact, this is a huge pet peeve of mine with companies that ship product in general. That is, without telling me or asking me if I wanted them to, they shipped it via UPS with SIGNATURE REQUIRED by me in person. First off, who the hell is home all day long and can just wait for UPS to show up? Secondly, my other option would be to pick it up at the UPS hub (which is not close to me at all) and when would I have time to do that? So basically, they've shipped me something that I can never possibly receive, and I never asked them to do it. It's a cell phone for god's sake, and it doesn't even have a battery or a SIM card with it. Leave it on the porch. It's not top secret government papers or a $1000 item. Luckily, I was able to call UPS and get them to reroute it to my work address. Unfortunately, it will now take an additional two days before I get my phone back. It's supposed to come Friday. It would be nice to have it back when I go out of town.I also mentioned yesterday that I'm traveling home to Portland for the weekend. The truth is, I'm from Vancouver. It's a city in Washington state that sits just on the other side of the Columbia River (and the state border) from Portland, Oregon. It's a Portland suburb, even though it's in another state. It's only a 10 minute drive from Vancouver to downtown Portland. It's a frustrating town to be from, though. Here's how a conversation goes when I meet someone new:
THEM: So, where are you from?
ME: Vancouver.
THEM: Oh! You're Canadian, eh?
ME: No...it's in Washington.
THEM: Cool! Washington D.C.?
ME: Um...no. It's right outside of Portland.
THEM: Oh! I see...you're from Maine.
ME: (frustrated pause) Yes. I'm Canadian.
In fact, I have friends at work who have known me for 6-7 years who until recently, always thought I was Canadian. Maybe the hockey throws them off.
Speaking of hockey, when I'm in town, I'll have the pleasure of going to see the Portland Winterhawks play. The Winterhawks are part of the WHL (Western Hockey League), one of the
three leagues that make up the Canadian Major Junior hockey league. There are only 5 American teams in the league, and besides Portland, they are all Washington state teams. I love watching Junior level hockey. It's so much better than the NHL. The kids are 15-20 years old, and they don't get paid. They come from all over the world and stay with families in the area called Billet families, and earn money toward an education. Since they don't get paid, they're playing purely for the love of the sport. My friend, Melanie, has had season tickets since she was a kid and never misses a game. In fact, she introduced me to hockey and I never saw an NHL game until I moved to Los Angeles.
The song for the day is "Come Back And Stay" by Paul Young. Young, a British singer, was certainly more well known for other hits like "Every Time You Go Away," but I always liked this one better. It comes from his 1983 release No Parlez. I don't remember the guy having that many hits, to be honest, but he must have been pretty big in the UK since they included him in the "Feed The World" project by Band Aid, which also included so many of the hugest performers of the day from England. "Come Back And Stay" is much grittier and urgent than Young's usual pop fare, and for me, much more enjoyable.
posted by EditThis at 8:09 AM
3 Comments:
I feel your pain . . . where I live, we don't have home mail delivery - we all have PO boxes - so it is always a trial trying to give companies the correct address for deliveries - half the time they don't know if they ship by mail - so the po box - or by ups or fed ex - and need my home address. Fortunately, th local UPS guy knows me, so if it addressed to me - even to the po box - I generally can get it.
I still haven't received my new car registration tags - I'm sure the DMV mailed them to my home address, rather than my mailing address . . .
Good song choice today!
I dunno, I just got this vibe, through talking (blogging) to you over the past few weeks, that you were Canadian born but grew up in the States. But I see now that you are a pure-blood Yankee! That's alright. I still like you. :-)
BTW, I had a big crush on Paul Young back in the 80s and I still sing that song...oh, maybe 5 to 10 times a month as part of my vocal warm-ups.
Seriously, I think UPS has only very recently become more strict about what they will leave on people's steps. You are the third person I know who has had this complaint about UPS of late. Another is my sister who has ordered stamps online for as long as they've been offering them that way. They are delivered UPS, and until recently, they've always left them for her. All of a sudden a couple weeks ago, they want her signature. She had to go through the same nightmare you did to get her stamps delivered and was very frustrated in the end.
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