Today in the backyard

I can't post pictures of Cory. He practically doesn't live here anymore. Sigh.

-k

Clearly it's not ALL bad

I mean just LOOK AT THAT GORGEOUS GIRL.

I am blessed, and I am grateful. I am licking my wounds a little, but I know that we'll land on our feet. We are bouncing on our butts right now... but we will bounce back.

-k

Please continue to bear with me

Friday is our last day of business and I won't kid you, it hasn't been great around here.


On the other hand, our beloved Polaseks were in town and that was WONDERFUL.


So please hang in there with me for a little while longer and I'll try to get back to better and happier things soon.



-k

Apology and Request

Sorry to be uncommunicative to many of you who deserve better from me.

I hope you will forgive me.

We are having to close the doors on our mail center business. Our last day of operation will be Friday, June 19th, 2009... which is ironically our third anniversary of being in the mail center business.

We'd appreciate your prayers and good thoughts during this time.

-k

Katie

Has decided she's a Target shopper.

Like to the point where she asks to go "Shop at Target" and if you say no... she starts with the "crying".

Sort of cute... but I can see the future where it will totally have lost its charm.

Children are so expensive. Until they grow up and then it gets OUT OF CONTROL.

-k

Perceptions

It's amazing how often this same scenario plays itself out in the mail center on a daily basis.

Customer comes in.
Customer: This absolutely HAS to be there overnight.
Me: We can do that. Overnight services are expensive. I'll put in your information and let you choose a combination of price and speed.
Customer: No, it HAS to be overnight.
Me: No problem. Let me get you that price. (quotes price)
Customer: Well, what's the cheapest way?
Me: (quotes price)
Customer: Just send it that way.
Me: Do you want a tracking number or replacement insurance on the contents?
Customer: No, just send it.

So, that's the deal here? People come in assuming that they can overnight heavy boxes and packages for less than $10? And when you tell them what it will be, they get upset and just send it the slowest way possible. I tell them that there are options in between the two, like priority mail that will be 2-3 service for a reasonable price. Nope. They either wanted it there tomorrow, or it can go by pack mule for all they care.

And it happens multiple times a day, so clearly this is a cultural reaction, not just one person's reaction.

And there's often an angry response included.

I do my best not to react. I'm not the one they are angry with. They are mad that it will cost so much more than they expected, and I am the messenger who gets shot, drawn and quartered, or tarred and feathered for daring to share the message.

And instead of going in between what the rate to get it there overnight would be(and it's almost always across country AND heavy) and the slowest way possible, they decide that if it can't get there immediately... then it can just get there when it gets there. Like there are no other more moderate choices.

And often, these same people will come back to me angry that it didn't get there fast enough later.

And they will want to track it, although they refused to pay the extra $.25 for a tracking number. And when I tell them that without a tracking number, their items are untraceable, they will get irate again.

So this item that HAD to be there overnight when they entered... now it can get there or not get there... they just don't care. Until it doesn't get there fast enough.

Sigh.

I wish I could change this cycle in some way. I try by remaining as cheerful and courteous as I can. I'd rather scream in reply... but where would that get us? Likely on the evening news. And if I am going to be famous for an incredible lapse in judgment, please dear God let it be for something involving a torrid affair with David Cook.

-k

The Auberjonois

So, I have FINALLY figured out the clapotis pattern... in time for Michael to have come up with a nickname for it. Since he couldn't remember the name of it, but knew that it was French, he used the name of a regular Star Trek actor who also has a long French name... and then just to be funny, he made a long funny spelling out of that name as well... and it totally cracked me up.

These are what he calls "geographical" jokes... I guess you had to be there.

I am THRILLED to have gotten past the roadblock. (For techno people, I was having trouble purling into the front and back of the same stitch. I watched a quick video on the internet, practicing on some toss yarn, and now I've got it). And now that I understand it, I can TOTALLY see making more, trying out some BEAUTIFUL yarn and giving these as gifts. Over 11,000 made on ravelry.com and I can see why!

-k

Yours, Mine, and the truth

I randomly came across some re-runs of Star Trek:TNG on tv the other day, and was struck by just how much I loved that show. I won't apologize. It was a great show, with a cast that really grew and developed their characters, their ability as actors, and took the opportunities they were given to explore writing, directing, and producing as well.

The re-run I caught was about the concept that there are three sides to every story... yours, mine, and the truth. They re-created a series of events on the holodeck as told by the two main participants, and then the one that was backed up entirely by the evidence. It was cool.

I adore Heroes, and a few other shows are very entertaining - but there hasn't ever been another show that captivated me with the same kind of morals and positive vision for the future. It was very optimistic about what we could evolve into as a species and a federation of planets in mostly peaceful coexistence. Television doesn't seem to have that same sort of optimism anymore... at least not in balance. You can find the sticky-sweet-without-substance optimism that you can tell was written to capture a specific demographic. But that doesn't interest me.

I LOVE Heroes, but it's certainly not a shiny, optimistic vision of the future. It's intriguing and fascinating and I love the twists and turns they take with the characters. And I will give them the fact that they don't rely on strange cabbage-like heads to give their characters visual appeal quite like the Star Trek franchise...

-k

Pet Peeve

One of my pet peeves in life (and if this is the worst thing that happens to me today I live a very charmed life indeed) is when people come in to use the self-service copy machine because it is less expensive, and then want you to do it for them.

You can't have it both ways, people.

Either you want the service, which costs you all of 5 cents a copy additional, or you want the economy, in which case, you can do it yourself... which is WHY IT IS CHEAPER.

Sigh.

-k

From a LONG line of fakers

Katie faked a fall off the couch yesterday in order to get a cookie.

I wish I was kidding.

She knows that when she announces that she's "crying", we do try to cheer her up. It's just too cute and she is the baby. And she's so darn smart and has a fabulous little vocabulary for a girl who hasn't quite hit two yet.

So, yesterday, she arranged herself on the floor in front of the couch, then announced very convincingly that she was "crying". Daddy went to get her, and was giving her the lecture that she wasn't supposed to JUMP on the couch (which she does multiple times a day, which often results in her bouncing off the couch... which ends up with her actually "crying"). He was patting her back when she immediately stopped crying and asked for a "cookie".

And he realized that he'd been had.

When she falls off the couch, you hear it. She's a solid princess. In fact, the impact tremor from Katie launching off the couch can be felt a county away.

And we hadn't heard (or felt) one.

She wanted the cookie.

Which, in a fit of terrible precedent setting, we gave her.

But we did make a point of telling her that she didn't need to fake a fall to get a cookie. She could just ask, and if she's been a good girl (and she usually has), she can have one. Without the drama.

Of course, I don't know where she gets it.

-k