2017 Life Logs, Day 331: That Time of Year
Date: Monday, November 27, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Very Windy, Chilly; High Temp 48, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
It is that time of year . . . scurrying around to gather Christmas lists, researching to find the best products to fill those lists, and then contacting Santa’s Workshop (AKA Amazon) to see if the chosen items can be fulfilled. Getting things to Puerto Rico on time has set this process in motion for me a little earlier than usual. But as I learned last year, if you don’t order early, items simply aren’t available. I’m not done yet, but I am making progress.
After going to the gym this morning, I spent a couple of hours ‘shopping’ and then I received a surprise package. Justin took his computer to the Apple Shop in Fort Myers last week for some repairs, and they said it had to be sent to Apple ‘central’ to be repaired. Justin was told that Apple would not ship his computer back to him in Puerto Rico. So I knew it would be sent to me sometime this week, but I was surprised to get it so quickly. My job, then, was to get to it to Puerto Rico as quickly as possible. Easy, or so I thought. I took it to UPS and found that there is some new ruling that won’t allow them to send anything with batteries, lithium or not, to Puerto Rico. And they thought the same was true for FedEx. So I went to the Post Office. They said they would send the computer, but even paying for Express Mail, they could not guarantee a timely delivery. Ugh. I repacked the computer into a USPS Prime box, insured it for megabucks, and sent it off. But I felt almost sick at my stomach doing this with Justin’s livelihood. The only other option was for me to book a flight and take the computer to Puerto Rico to deliver it in person. But then I realized that it would be cheaper for me to give Justin the money to buy an interim computer in Puerto Rico until his Apple eventually gets there. So for now, I’ll just hope the United States Post Office comes through in a timely manner. If not, we’ll go to Plan 2.
I spent my evening talking on the phone to various family members about Christmas related issues, and then catching up on the news. Oh my. That was a mistake. Being in Florida last week, I really paid no attention to the political scene. What I heard tonight was enough to set my hair on fire. And I have a lot of hair! I am deeply concerned that our democracy, as we have known and cherished it, is being thrown out the window. Very, very worrisome. But what to do? That is the BIG question.
