26 October 2008
Weekly
26/10/08 05:56
It has been a warm sunny week here. I even saw a few bees and a couple of mosquitos this week. Nothing but clear brisk nights and warm sunny afternoons. Yesterday we even went over to Barbara's and picked apples. They were for a pie as the freezer is already full of blackberries, apples, vegetables, and meat. Shelves in the garage are full of potatoes and squash. We're all stocked up for the winter.
The big issue this week has been the computer order we mentioned last week. Marsha's computer was here on Tuesday. It's running and she is very happy with it. It is one of the white MacBooks so it looks much like her old one, but is vastly faster. The cards in her solitaire game simply FLY across the screen.
My MacBook is another story. Last week we told you how we placed the order on the 16th and it was assembled and put on the plane in Shanghai on the 18th only to be removed again. Well, the next day it went back on the plane and set out for Nanaimo. First it landed in Osaka Japan. After half a day there it set out again and arrived the next day in Anchorage Alaska. I watched the web site for the next two days but there were no updates. I was just about to call UPS to ask what was going on when my MacBook showed up in Louisville Kentucky. Now, I'm not sure what was going on for two and a half days, or for that matter why it went to Louisville. I'm not the expert on how UPS runs things. but unless they flew it there on a DC-3 it seems like ti took an awfully long time to arrive. Anyway after a day in Louisville, I guess it stopped for dinner after the long flight from Alaska, the MacBook was on the move again.
The MacBook next showed up in Buffalo New York. I know a lot of places it could have crossed the border and Buffalo would not have been my first guess. But now it was getting finally in Canada. After a three hour flight to Buffalo, the MacBook crossed the border and after a two hour flight arrived in Hamilton Ontario. Then there was a two hour flight to Winnipeg Manitoba, a second two hour flight to Calgary Alberta, and then a third two hour flight to Richmond, BC (a suburb of Vancouver). We were on the home stretch now. A 20 minute flight and my MacBook was in Nanaimo at 7:20 Friday morning. It was beginning to look like I was going to receive it in time for the weekend.
But alas, no. By 6:00 that night the MacBook had not arrived. I called UPS and found that it had just missed the truck (it's a small route so yes it is THE truck) which apparently sets out at 7:00am. What's more they do not do Saturday deliveries on the island so I have to wait until Monday. At this point, Marsha came in the room and found me curled up on the floor in a fetal position. OK not quite, but sheesh, I think most babies have an easier delivery than my MacBook. The other thing I keep thinking about is how Apple is making a big deal about how environmentally clean the new MacBooks are. I wonder if those gains are rather offset by the fuel needed to move the sucker all over the bloody planet before it gets here.
So this weekend I've been working on other projects. The Xmas cards are printed and we got the envelopes yesterday so they will go out shortly. Today I'm disassembling the ratty gold colored plastic shower door in the one bath and replacing it with a clean white curtain. This week I got a fantastic deal on an all in one printer/scanner/copier. (It was regularly >$100 but I got it for $30 new still in the box.) Yesterday I set it up and started scanning pictures for a birthday present project.
That's it for this week. Tonight Marsha made Ratatouille, but in case you're wondering we did not use any of the rats Barbara's cats bring in. We have also heard that Minnesota has been having cold weather. Some parts of Minnesota have gotten snow and most of the rest will by the end of this week. I've also been checking the Northrop Mall web-cam and it looks nasty. So in honor of that, here are some pictures that we've taken in the last 10 days or so. Flowers, warm sunny days, etc. Neener, Neener, Neener. The flowers and Church are in Chemainus and we just taken last weekend.
Doug & Marsh
The big issue this week has been the computer order we mentioned last week. Marsha's computer was here on Tuesday. It's running and she is very happy with it. It is one of the white MacBooks so it looks much like her old one, but is vastly faster. The cards in her solitaire game simply FLY across the screen.
My MacBook is another story. Last week we told you how we placed the order on the 16th and it was assembled and put on the plane in Shanghai on the 18th only to be removed again. Well, the next day it went back on the plane and set out for Nanaimo. First it landed in Osaka Japan. After half a day there it set out again and arrived the next day in Anchorage Alaska. I watched the web site for the next two days but there were no updates. I was just about to call UPS to ask what was going on when my MacBook showed up in Louisville Kentucky. Now, I'm not sure what was going on for two and a half days, or for that matter why it went to Louisville. I'm not the expert on how UPS runs things. but unless they flew it there on a DC-3 it seems like ti took an awfully long time to arrive. Anyway after a day in Louisville, I guess it stopped for dinner after the long flight from Alaska, the MacBook was on the move again.
The MacBook next showed up in Buffalo New York. I know a lot of places it could have crossed the border and Buffalo would not have been my first guess. But now it was getting finally in Canada. After a three hour flight to Buffalo, the MacBook crossed the border and after a two hour flight arrived in Hamilton Ontario. Then there was a two hour flight to Winnipeg Manitoba, a second two hour flight to Calgary Alberta, and then a third two hour flight to Richmond, BC (a suburb of Vancouver). We were on the home stretch now. A 20 minute flight and my MacBook was in Nanaimo at 7:20 Friday morning. It was beginning to look like I was going to receive it in time for the weekend.
But alas, no. By 6:00 that night the MacBook had not arrived. I called UPS and found that it had just missed the truck (it's a small route so yes it is THE truck) which apparently sets out at 7:00am. What's more they do not do Saturday deliveries on the island so I have to wait until Monday. At this point, Marsha came in the room and found me curled up on the floor in a fetal position. OK not quite, but sheesh, I think most babies have an easier delivery than my MacBook. The other thing I keep thinking about is how Apple is making a big deal about how environmentally clean the new MacBooks are. I wonder if those gains are rather offset by the fuel needed to move the sucker all over the bloody planet before it gets here.
So this weekend I've been working on other projects. The Xmas cards are printed and we got the envelopes yesterday so they will go out shortly. Today I'm disassembling the ratty gold colored plastic shower door in the one bath and replacing it with a clean white curtain. This week I got a fantastic deal on an all in one printer/scanner/copier. (It was regularly >$100 but I got it for $30 new still in the box.) Yesterday I set it up and started scanning pictures for a birthday present project.
That's it for this week. Tonight Marsha made Ratatouille, but in case you're wondering we did not use any of the rats Barbara's cats bring in. We have also heard that Minnesota has been having cold weather. Some parts of Minnesota have gotten snow and most of the rest will by the end of this week. I've also been checking the Northrop Mall web-cam and it looks nasty. So in honor of that, here are some pictures that we've taken in the last 10 days or so. Flowers, warm sunny days, etc. Neener, Neener, Neener. The flowers and Church are in Chemainus and we just taken last weekend.
Doug & Marsh