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Last Minute Details

I thought one went away on vacation to relax and unwind.  If this is so, why then is planning and preparing for the trip so stressful?  Let’s start with my own long list of things to do, and add to that Amoeba’s phone call in which he asks me to go to his office and pick something up, reminds me to call Oceanic Time Warner Cable, and contact the Post Office about our mail.

Let me back up a bit and tell you that every night for the past week when I am supposed to be sleeping, I am mentally preparing the house for my departure and packing my suitcase.  I have done it so many virtual times that I am almost too exhausted to prep things for real — mostly because I am short on sleep.  At any rate, I got up this morning, grabbed my list and a pencil and prepared to start scratching things off.  I started with the cable company.  They kept me on hold forever, so I hung up and tried the Postal Service website.  I filled out the mail form only to be told, sorry, you can’t do that online, print the form and take it to the post office — except there was no button to click to print the form.  After much cursing and cussing and carrying on, I finally found the printable form and clicked it to print — and it printed out the size of a postage stamp.  Lovely.

I called the post office and got an automated machine that yammered at me for over 20 minutes without providing me any service whatsoever!  Finally it ended it’s spiel by telling me to use the website!  More cussing.  Forget the post office.  I called the cable company back.  They said all their operators were busy, but I didn’t have to wait.  If I left my name and phone number, they would call me inside of 5 minutes.  I left my name and number and moved on to task number three — contacting Amoeba’s office.  Of course, I had to use my cell phone because I was expecting the cable company to call the land line.  Except the phone at Amoeba’s office was busy.  I called it several times about a minute apart.  At which point it dawned on me that the cable company hadn’t called back.

I had already spent two hours in frustration and had nothing concrete to show for it.  I decided to sort the laundry and do something tangible and easy.   The phone rang.  Finally, I thought and ran to answer it.  It was Amoeba.  He wanted to know how things were going.  I told him.  Loudly!

He asked for the phone number for the cable company — since I had decided they weren’t calling me back because I am not listed on the account.  I think my theory was supported when, in less than 5 minutes, Amoeba called me back, having already taken care of our business with the cable company.

I called Amoeba’s office again and his assistant answered the phone.  I made plans to meet her — and stop by the post office to see if I could find a live body.  At the post office, a live body greeted me almost immediately.  It turns out she was actually sentient and was able to help me in a matter of minutes with minimal fuss.  I had to do the address stuff in person and sign an affidavit that I wasn’t stopping the mail for nefarious purposes.

I went to Amoeba’s office and completed that errand, then I came home — with most of the day shot — and sat down to call my car insurance company to talk to them about putting the car in storage for a month (reduces the monthly premium by 70%).   Happily, a young man named Jerald assisted me without any glitches.  Hooray!

Now, it’s late afternoon and I can actually move on to crossing things off my to-do  list … and the first thing on the list is a nice relaxing nap!

33 Comments

  1. i wish i was going with you

    at this point i could and would
    throw some shit in a bag and
    bolt

    easily

  2. yes i should be in bed
    i have to work in 6 hours and some minutes

    i dont care
    i still want to go

  6. Cherie — yes, but the island I am going to has it’s own kind of beauty! And it’s going to be much cooler there than here! 😉

  7. In about 21 hours this will all be a faded memory…pffft why stress…hell it was 9 o’clock and you were still doiing laundry!!! And BTW…your new do, short and browner looks great. I”m taking a picture tomorrow and posting it soon. 🙂 Ha

    Thom’s last blog post..Saturday 9 – Never Say Never Again

    1. I will break your camera. Fair warning. AND, if you follow my photo blog, you might want to check out my Sunday (21st) post. I have them preset through Monday.

    1. Tony — And to get over the stress of having one! Luckily we are returning home two days before I have to return to work, so I might be rested enough to do so!

  9. Well, I just hope that nap did it’s thing and you are rested enough to GET from Paradise A to Paradise B without a meltdown on the way! I am a bit concerned about the whole idea of you not having a laptop anymore…. this means you will be relying on sharing OC’s ???

    Melli’s last blog post..Saturday 9…

    1. Melli — yes and no. I do not have a laptop, but OC has TWO. They are twins. The one I will be using doesn’t have a working dvd player anymore, but I’ll probably live!

  10. I always plan a day or two of rest after my vacations because they exhaust me so much.

    Enjoy your time in the great North West. I am looking forward to the pictures.

    I think if we all pitch in, we could buy Thom a new camera if you break his. Bring on the pic, Thom.

    Nessa’s last blog post..Foto Friday #10 – Rain

    1. Thom uses the latest, fanciest iPhone as his camera. You want to rethink that offer? Unless you plan on buying his a new service plan, you’re paying the full $600.00+

  11. To me the stress of preparing for vacation almost makes it not worth it!! But I know it will be once you get there. Hope everything else goes more smoothly.

    I’ve never had to sign an affidavit when filling out forms to have the mail held — wonder if that’s new?

    Barbara H.’s last blog post..Spring Reading Thing 2009 Wrap-Up

  12. Barbara — it matters WHERE one transfers the mail. I guess there is or has been some kind of mail stealing scam that involves putting in false transfers and diverting people’s mail. So, we wanted to transfer our mail to a university address, and the post office people wanted to make certain I knew that once it reaches the campus — and their central mail system — they have no control over where it actually gets distributed.

  14. What if you really were planning on doing some nefarious things with the mail. I don’t suppose signing a document would be too much of a deterrent. Things like that sort of keep me from sleeping sometime. 🙂

    Have a blast and I so envy you your trip where it is cool and where there are mountains…oh wait…you have that on Oahu, right? 😉

    AmberStar’s last blog post..My Daddy Really Was the Milkman one more time

  16. Preparing to leave all your worldlys for a few weeks is so exhausting. Very frustrating the cable company and post office. “It turns out she was actually sentient…” – great line. I know how you feel on that one.

    Hope the rest of the prep is relatively glitch free.

    1. Thumbelina — well, it turns out tht having the cable switched off for a month and then back on, is more expensive than just paying the bjll.

  17. its a wonder we put ourselves through vacation when we are faced with all the packing and what not that needs to be done to get us there. it will be all worth it when you finally get there and relax. congrats on the POTD nomination and hope vacation goes well!

    brian miller’s last blog post..Logan

  19. When you finally get to go…….. have a wonderful time!
    Congratulations on POTD!

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