What Cheer, Netop?

Guess I'll be calling Cox again tomorrow.

Stegosaurus #4 is coming along -- the body is all knitted and partially sewn together. I'm not sure if I will have enough yarn for the legs, but we will see.

Attempts to get the 'Pirates!' books have been unsuccessful. I'm starting to feel kind of ravenous, so I think I might get some food downtown, then go to Borders at the mall to see if they have them.

I had a nice walk with cgoldfish and wazroth earlier, although it ended with a lot of rain. Brrr.

I ordered a bunch of yarn, some of which I plan to use for a suit for the Penfold I'm knitting for katylady74. Unfortunately it arrived while I was out of town, so I will be going to Warwick after work Monday to pick it up. Hopefully it will be suitable!

Worked on a secret project today; not entirely satisfied with it, but I may feel differently tomorrow.

There is an article in the New Yorker (which is also online) about a guy who fell for one of those Nigerian 419 scams. I have wondered who falls for those things and why, so I was interested to read the article. I found this to be a clue early on:

Mbote elaborated on the story to say that Worley’s name was one of ten that he had been given, and that it had been pulled from a hat after much prayer by someone named Pastor Mark. (A more likely possibility is that his e-mail address was plucked from an Internet chain letter, which he received and passed on, that promised a cash reward from Microsoft to anyone who forwarded the letter to others.)

If you don't want to read the New Yorker article, you might prefer MC Frontalot's song about a Nigerian scammer. [lyrics]

At around 5:50 I called US Airway's phone line again to check on the status of the baggage. I was told that it would be delivered in 4-6 hours as usual. In a new twist, I was told that this was the latest status as of "ZERO SIX".

So I hung up and simmered for a little while, then called back and hit zero a bunch of times. While in the past this didn't accomplish anything other than getting me put in the phone queue for eternity, this time it actually put me through to someone.

He informed me that they didn't have an address on file to deliver the baggage to, so the delivery company returned it to the airport. The baggage supposedly will be there waiting for me when I return to the airport tomorrow evening for my flight back. If it isn't I guess at least I will actually be at the baggage claim office, so it will not be possible for them to hide from me.

Here's what they say:

It appears your email address has changed. If we should use this new address, please update your contact information here.

I click on the link and it asks for my email address. I type in my email address and am informed:

Login Failed
The login ID and password combination you provided is invalid.
If you believe you may have mistyped either value, use the browser Back button to return to the login page and try again.

If you believe you have forgotten your password, use the browser Back button to return to the login page and request that your password be emailed to you.

Of course the original screen didn't ask for a password and also it doesn't have any instructions for getting the password emailed to me.

I typed in a different email address and it worked. This is pretty outstanding.

Perhaps I should give the sandals I bought yesterday another few days before I try to go on another extended walk wearing them again. ow ow ow

Right now I'm trying to decide between having some pie, doing some knitting in front of the television, or going to bed. I will probably opt for plan D, which is mucking around pointlessly on the Internet until it's far too late.

A story or two while I'm thinking of them:

Last month I had my first physical in a long time. As it happens this was also around the time for me to give blood again. Now, I have been giving blood regularly for a few years now, and there is no really rational reason for me to put it off now, but, still, I felt like I might as well put it off until all my tests and stuff came back so that if it turned out there was something horribly wrong with me I would know not to bother going in to the blood center.

So I went in for my physical like a month ago, but what with one thing and another I've been putting off getting my blood work done. Finally, yesterday morning I went in and got it done, so now I'm just waiting for the results.

But for a couple of months now the blood center has been calling me every couple of weeks to try to get me to come in, and each time I've asked them to call me back later as I wasn't sure &c &c, and it's gotten a little annoying. Most recently they called me Sunday afternoon (when I was expecting another call), and when I told them to leave me alone the woman I talked to seemed to be a little annoyed (it may have been my imagination), so I hung up a bit annoyed myself, and I thought to myself, "Jeez, why won't they just leave me alone? They're such bloodsuckers!"

And then I realized what I had just thought and had to laugh at myself a little.

So that's story #1. Story #2 is related but is more Rhode Island-y.

Monday Morning I finally went in to get my blood work done, which involved driving to Cranston through a construction zone. As has been known to happen in this state from time to time, I got into a minor traffic altercation (not an accident); I was turning left into a parking lot, but I think I didn't make it very clear as to whether I was turning into that lot or into the next one, so a woman behind me decided to try to scoot past me on the left and turn into the parking lot herself, and when she realized that I was actually changing lanes she honked at me, resulting in me giving her my patented 'What the hell?' look. (Perhaps I will get someone to take a picture of me giving this look sometime.)

So then I went in to get the blood test and, lo and behold, the woman who had honked at me was the one assigned to draw the blood.

She was quite apologetic about our little run-in and she didn't take it out on me when she was poking me with needles (it was quite painless, whereas I was picturing fifteen minutes of 'Whoops! I missed the vein again! Sorry! Let's try that again, shall we?').

And that's story #2.

I went to the post office today.

Me: I'd like some stamps. Do you have the Buckminster Fuller ones?

Clerk #1: What?

Me: Buckminster Fuller?

[Clerk #1 pulls out the Big Book o' Stamps and shows me which stamps she has. The Buckminster Fuller one isn't there.]

Me: Oh. Well ...

Clerk #1: Hold on. Maybe we have some in the back.

[Clerk #1 stalks off towards the back room, great purpose in her stride. After a few minutes she shouts, "Does anyone know the combination?" to no one in particular.]

Clerk #2: (to Clerk #1) What are you looking for?

Clerk #1: (uncertainly) ... Buck ... minster?

Clerk #2: What?

Clerk #1: Buckminster?

Clerk #2: Oh, are those the ones with the head? (to me) It kind of looks like Epcot?

Me: Yup.

Clerk #2: We don't have those yet, and I don't know the combination anyway.

Me: Oh. Do you know when you'll get them?

Clerk #2: (laughs maybe a little derisively) ... No.

Me: OK, thanks.

[I left at this point.]

I highly endorse this experience.

My doorbell just rang. It turned out to be a Verizon repair guy. I told him that everything was working and that I was all set. He said, "OK, good. I'm just going to go around to the box on the side of the building and do some tests, then I'll call you to make sure everything's working." I must have looked confused, because he said, "I have to do that while I'm here." Well, OK.

A short while later my phone rang and it was him asking if all was well. I said it was, and he left.

My hope is that none of this will cost me any money.

I went to drop off my suit at the dry cleaner's today (I have a memorial service to go to on Sunday and, true to form, put off getting the suit cleaned until the last minute). The following dialogue transpired at the dry cleaner's place:

Counter guy: OK, it will be ready on Tuesday.

Me: Oh ... Tuesday? It's not possible to get it back Saturday sometime?

Counter guy: No. [Here he gave an explanation of why which I omit.] Although ... it could be ready for Monday if you need it then. Should I put you down for Monday or Tuesday?

Me: Neither is of any use to me.

Counter guy: OK, I'll put you down for Tuesday then.