Wearing Pants Is Overrated

I've been super busy this week so I haven't had time to post anything. Here's a quick update on where I am, what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it. (It may not be that detailed, but damn that sounded good.)

I got my package from Amazon earlier this week. The post office didn't screw me on this one. Shocker! They still haven't called me about anything, but what do you expect? I did e-mail Woot.com and ask them about it. They actually refunded my money! I was amazed and happy. Now that's customer service!

Speaking of Woot, they had a woot off today. It wasn't that great. I didn't buy anything. They did have a USB missile launcher, but I missed that one. Dammit!

I started my overnight job at Kohl's this week. It's not too bad, although working overnight then going to your regular day job does wear a brotha out. It's a decent job and a good way to get some money into savings, so I'm all for it. Rhea works there, too.

We took Baylee and Buttercup to the vet this evening for shots. Baylee threw up on me on the way home. Poor baby. I'm not very happy with her because she's decided that chewing on electronic cords is a fun thing to do. She chewed my play and charge cable to my 360, the power cord to my router, and one of my CAT-5 cables. WTF? Buffy and Butter never did that. I sprayed all the cords with some stuff that's supposed to taste really bad. Hopefully that will deter her.

It's time for Lost, so I'm gonna end it here.

Peace out!

I Hate The Post Office

I'm not exaggerating when I make the above statement. It's a point of fact that has been cemented into my brain. It's an interesting thing, too, because my wife and sister both work for the post office. But here I am, wishing I could declare a jihad on the whole damn organization. I'm like one of those senators that speaks out against gay marriage, meanwhile I'm banging dudes in an airport bathroom.

As some of my twitter buddies know, I was working for the post office earlier this year and eventually quit. I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty details about what happened in this post, but suffice to say that I was bent over a mail cart and corn holed by those bastards. I've talked to everyone I can get to answer a phone, including the union, and I got no help whatsoever.

There are so many things wrong with the post office. First off is the union. They make it so it's impossible to get rid of people that don't do their jobs. The post office is powerless to take any action against an employee for fear of the union. This does nothing but create an environment where the employees think they are bulletproof. Therefore they do the least work possible. Meanwhile, hard working people like me that do a good job get the shaft because the lazy regular carrier doesn't train worth a shit.

The second thing is the fact that the postal service, whether they would admit it or not, is a monopoly. There's no such thing as quitting the mail or going to a different service provider. If you want your bills, letters, and junk mail, you have to use the post office. They use UPS and FedEx as justification for being a monopoly, but the reality is that nobody in their right mind would send a letter using UPS and no company is going to send out their billing statements using FedEx. As soon as I can change my service provider like I can change my cell phone provider, then we will have progress.

What put me over the edge about the post office is not what happened to me while I was employed, but what has happened recently to me as a postal customer.

Recently my wife ordered a new pair of eye glasses off the internet. We tracked the package and it showed delivered. We did not have the glasses. We ventured down to the mail boxes at our apartments and found the package in an unlocked parcel locker. It was unlocked because the lock was broken. The carrier just left it in there with no notice in our regular box. This is the issue that prompted us to buy a P.O. box and put in a forward for our mail.

A few weeks ago I ordered a couple MP3 players from woot.com. They were only $10 each. Not a big ticket item, but it's still something I would like to receive. The package was lost due to the incompetent carrier forwarding the parcel. It's currently languishing in Dallas, probably being used as a doorstop or booger receptacle.

The final straw was yesterday when I tracked my Amazon package. I ordered Advance Wars: Days of Ruin from Amazon for cheap the other day and I've been excited ever since. The tracking showed it as delivered on the 28th. WTF?

I called 1-800-ASK-USPS and finally got a woman on the phone. I told her my story and she transferred me to someone else for no other reason than she didn't want to deal with me. I was livid and let loose on the new guy. Shockingly, he was very helpful.

Now, I sit here and wait for the post office to call me and bless me with information on my two parcels. Meanwhile, they are in no rush to provide any useful information because they have a monopoly on the industry and employ lazy, union protected jackasses who would rather complain about how many breaks they get instead of deliver me my fucking package!

Of course, when I refer to all postal employees as lazy, union protected jackasses, I don't mean my wife or my sister. They are the few that actually try to make a difference. My only wish is that someone would walk into that organization and fire 90% of the people and start over with people who actually want to work. Who actually have a vested interest in making sure you get your mail, as opposed to just being interested in getting done as fast as possible no matter how many mistakes they make and how many parcels get lost.

...and I'm spent.

Bottled Up

Today at the P.O. went a lot better. Somehow I was able to get out on the street by 12:30, which is at least an hour earlier than before. The street only took me 4 hours. Needless to say, I'm the greatest postal worker to ever live! At least until I get shot.

I did have a couple funny things happen to me today on my route. First, the ice cream man was out today driving around the same roads as me. That wasn't annoying at all. The best part was when I saw the ice cream truck roll by. It was followed by a chubby little mexican kid running, trying desperately to catch up to the 2mph rocket that is the ice cream man.

The second thing that happened wasn't funny at the time, but in retrospect it's kinda hilarious. I realized after about 30 minutes on the street that I had to piss like a racehorse after a keg of beer. Normally I just ignore it, but this was some serious pain.

Now, my route has over 500 stops and none of them are conveniently located near a bathroom. As I drove, I started working through different scenarios in my head. No where was sheltered enough or inconspicuous enough. And my luck, a customer would walk up and ask what I was doing.

I finally hatched a plan in my head that was feasible. I had a Propel water bottle with me. I had only drank a third of it by then. I decided that my best bet would be to stop in the new residential area that had just opened. I had 2 houses to deliver in that area, and nobody would be around. So, I pulled up to the first house, dumped out my bottle, and proceeded to the back of my LLV to relieve myself. Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

Believe me when I tell you that there is no better feeling than taking a piss after holding it for almost 2 hours.

Anyway, I downloaded the new picture pack created by 360style.net's own Avid X. I like the pics, but Joystiq doesn't agree with me. The posted a very shitty article about them, stating that a picture of your crotch would be better. Well, I have one thing to say about that. Fuck Joystiq. They obviously have no clue about the gaming community.

I think I'm pretty much done with the corporate sites after this. X3F has been slipping lately, and 1UP is apparently filing bankruptcy. Well, not them, but their parent company. Anyway, community sites are where it's at, folks. Screw the corporate suits!

Going Postal

Ok, so I worked at the Post Office again today. My regular Saturday thing. The difference today was that it's mail count. That means they have to count every piece of mail before they give it to you to case. And they have to time you when you do certain things, like load your truck. To top it off, I couldn't get there as early as I wanted because of this. It was nice to sleep in a little, but still!

I finally got on the street around 2 p.m., which is pretty shitty. There was only one other person behind me. She started at the same time, so it's ok. By way of comparison, my regular carrier usually leaves for the street at 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. Needless to say, I'm slow.

Once you're out on the street, you're at the mercy of the general public. No, it's not as fun as it sounds. My first bit of excitement happened and I almost missed it. I was cruising along making my deliveries, when a guy came walking up to my LLV. He handed me some mail, which I assumed was outgoing. Then he pops off with "I'm going to call your boss and tell him you still don't know how to deliver mail." I responded with, "Thanks. Appreciate it." Then I processed it and realized what the fucker said. Then I was mad.

A little background. This guy has called before when I was there. The thing is, it's my regular that keeps fucking up this guy's mail, not me. I'm there one day a week. But apparently this douche bag thinks I'm the regular, so he smarts off to me. It is true that I gave him mail that wasn't for the 2 names he gave, but still! There's no need to be a dick about it. That's why we all have trashcans, right?

The next fun part was when I had to dismount for a couple boxes because people can't park correctly. I reach for the box and it just falls off the post. So, I drop the mail in it, set it on the ground and walk away. It's really fucking amazing how bad these mailboxes are. There are doors held on with twist ties, no doors, and even a box that is perpetually on the ground. It's awesome!

Finally, I had a couple kids come toward me on their bikes, and after attending the Postal orientation, I know to be scared shitless of them. One wrong move and I got dead kid all over my windshield, and I don't know if the wipers will get that off. Anyway, as they get closer one asks if I have any rubber bands and the other asks if I have any candy. Now, obviously I had rubber bands. They were wrapped around my right hand. But candy?! Why in the fuck would I have candy?! I don't want you idiot kids running at my LLV so I can run you down and get fired. And where are your parents?!

Honestly I'm convinced that Mike Judge was right when he made Idiocracy. Society is getting stupider and stupider.

By the way, I have two tech things that are getting on my nerves, and one that's awesome! First, the awesome. I ordered a HDD enclosure from NewEgg.com the other day and got it on Thursday. I put my 75gb hard drive in it that has all my mp3's. I connected it and imported all my songs into the Zune library. My collection is now complete again! Woot!

Speaking of Zune, the site still won't update with the songs I've played on my Zune. I connect it and nothing! I'm considering calling support and asking what the fuck is up. Maybe tomorrow.

My Dash is also being a bitch lately. It's very strange, too. When I'm at the P.O. or on my route, it decides to randomly lock up on me. I have no idea why. I have to pop out the battery and turn it back on every time. It's really getting old. I think I might call T-Mobile tomorrow and check into my options for a new phone. I really don't want to give up the qwerty keyboard on my Dash, but it's pretty useless when the phone is locking up constantly. I would love to get a Wing, but those are too expensive right now. Maybe a Shadow. Stay tuned!

By the way, I'm too tired to add links. Sorry.

Snail Mail

Has it really been six days since my last blog post? Damn. I wanted to post something at least every other day, but I guess that didn't happen. I will try to do better.

I have been really busy with both my jobs this last week or so. Yesterday was probably the worst day at the post office for me so far. Hopefully that will be as bad as it gets. I'm still learning the route and trying to get faster at casing, and I don't think I'm doing bad. Of course, compared to my regular I'm a snail (mail?). I can take some solace in the fact that the other two new hires are having just as much trouble as I am. Silver lining FTW.

I've carved out a little time to play some games this week, fortunately. I got Assassin's Creed in the mail from my Canadian twitter buddy DjDatz. I've only played it for maybe 2 hours, so I'll save my first impressions. I haven't even assassinated anyone yet, if that gives any indication as to my progress.

I did finish the easy guitar tour on Rock Band. They really chose some great songs for the game. I'm loving all the 90's stuff like Black Hole Sun and Creep. I'm not so thrilled about the inclusion of some older stuff like Don't Fear the Reaper and Suffragette City. I know why they put Blue Oyster Cult in there. More cowbell. However I don't know how David Bowie is any good. I've never met anyone who is a fan.

Oh, and how atrocious is that Fall Out Boy song? Could they not have licensed something off of Infinity On High? I mean, where did they find that piece of shit, their demo tape?

Rock Band

OMG, Rock Band is teh awesome! I sang the hell out of some songs tonight. Especially when I unlocked Epic by Faith No More. Dude, that's a great song! I'm so glad Harmonix put it in the game.

Honestly, there are a ton of great songs in the game. I even enjoyed singing Dani California and Paranoid.

Anyway, I officially start at my post office on Tuesday, so you know why I'm not blogging or twittering this week. Fortunately, my route has a vehicle, so I don't have to find a right hand driver. I really got lucky on that one.

It's really time for bed right now. I don't want to go to sleep yet. Stupid work.

Oh, and Mario Galaxy is awesome!

What's Going On

Finally I'm in the mood to blog. Not that I needed to be "in the mood", but every time I've thought about posting I just didn't have the words all up in my noggin' trying to get out. I'm sure that makes a lot of sense. Oh well, fuck it.

Anyway, it's been a week since my last post. Basically (really and truly?), I went to the post office all week for orientation and training. Had to be there at effing 7 a.m. each day! (Why the hell do you have to be there so early!?) We learned about not running over kids, not backing over kids, and not fingering our mail. Especially while driving. You should never finger your mail while driving. lol! Try to keep a straight face while they're telling you that over and over.

Once I got home, I had the pleasure of also doing work for my current employer. I'm going to keep both jobs for as long as I can just in case the post office doesn't make with the hours immediately. You gotta stay prepared, ya know.

On the gaming side of things, I've been making slow progress in Mario Galaxy. Not that it's hard, but I just haven't spent a ton of time on it. What I have played has been excellent.

I also got the chance to play Scene It: LCA. Alana brought it over and we played a bunch of games. The achievements just drip from this game, which is awesome. I kicked their asses every time, too. Makes me feel like a man!

And finally, here's a sweet video of a game that mixes Mario with Halo. Pretty freakin' amazing if you ask me.



By the way, I'm trying to get the demo of The Club downloaded by using my European gamertag. So far it's just been available to gold members. But once that baby hits silver, I'll be taking some video and posting it. Good times...good times...

Pylon

I finally got my gamertag recovered yesterday. Then I put together my new Pylon Gaming Station (pictured above). It's pretty cool. It hold all my games, my Xbox, and my controller. Flippin' sweet!

I go for my first day of orientation at the post office tomorrow. I'm excited and nervous. Should be a breeze. I'm still looking for a right hand drive vehicle to buy. Craigslist was a bust. I'm going to keep looking.

Anyway, I have more to say, but I've been sick this weekend. More to come.