Getting together with my niece for lunch

 

No, this is not my niece.  But it is a drawing of a pretty woman who was "hid" in many of an artist's drawings.  Today, RQS and I met my niece in Manhattan and went to one of my favorite Indian restaurants.

Since my car was left in a good parking spot over the weekend, I didn't have to take my morning shower until 10:30.  And then I proceeded to get made up, dressed, and ready to go into "the city".  We started walking to the nearby subway station at noon, and saw a bus coming by.  RQS checked the schedule and found another coming 3 minutes later.  So, we took the bus to a different subway station, and didn't have to climb any stairs.

Just as we were getting off the subway, my niece called to tell us she was at the restaurant.  5 minutes later, we were there, and I could barely recognize her with her sunglasses on.  As much as we loved the food in this place, the service was very slow.  We were there for the better part of 3 hours.  Luckily, the conversation was going well, the weather outside was perfect, and I was ready to drop a couple of "C-Notes" on lunch.

 

A little bit before 4, my niece had to make it back to Long Island, and we had to make it to Queens.  We got to RQS's place around 5, and I was able to rest until 6:45 when I started my drive home.  When I got home, I found the dress and T-Shirt I ordered from Ulla Popken, and put it on.  It looks nice, and I'll be getting much use out of it as the weather gets cooler.

One bit of bad news - Medicare turned me down for the bridge program.  I guess I'll have to wait until 2028 for my GLP-1 drugs to start being covered. 

Sometimes, computer systems don't work as expected

 

This past weekend, I tried to place an order with Ulla Popken for a Corduroy Jumper and a white T-shirt that I can wear together as an outfit.  Each time I tried to log into their official site, I got the above error.  Yet, when I tried to purchase the garments as a guest, I was successful.  Weird!

I think something has changed with Popken's US site that hasn't affected its European sites.  So, I decided to look for someone to contact, and I found a German Headquarters site I could write to.  I did this, and got a reply in German.  (Not a big deal for me.  But I'm hoping my message gets conveyed to the person in charge of the US site, someone who should know some English.

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I've seen problems like the above many a time.  AI may make it possible to test system changes much better than they are tested now, as well as make them much more secure than they are now.  And here lies the problem.  Our president has laid off many of the people in charge of information security for the US Government.  And this has likely resulted in hackers getting sensitive employee data from FBI files.

Consider that Iran has a "Military" division dedicated to computer hacking, and one can see that America's reliance on private institutions to alone protect our country from harm is likely misguided if our government can't protect itself from major data breaches.  We've seen key elements of our infrastructure attacked, and we don't know how far the hackers have gotten into their systems, nor do we know how much control they have over these systems.  Can anyone feel safe right now?  I certainly don't.

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I'm praying that America can survive until January 20, 2029, when hopefully, a saner regime can come to power and start to fix what our current president broke in his 80 y/o man child tantrums. 

UPS Doesn't Deliver!

 

Above is the tracking history of a package having been shipped by UPS.  The package has been held up in Philadelphia for a while, and no reason is being given by UPS for the hold up. Dollars to donuts that this package is being held up for two reasons:

1. Lack of US Customs personnel in Philadelphia due to Government Shutdown.
2. Trump's Tariffs causing confusion at import points

This is the second time I've had problems with deliveries not being delivered, and held up in mid stream. (The first was with Amazon, and mentioned here in a prior post.)  I expect things will start getting much worse as the Holiday season approaches.

So what's going on here? 

We've seen reports of foreign mail services refusing to ship small parcels to the United States.  In the past, an items valued $800 (or less) could be mailed to the US without having to pay duties.  Now that the "De Minimis" floor of $800 has been removed, all parcels are subject to US tariffs, and are subject to duty collection.  But who pays?  Where is this money collected?  How much should be paid? Sadly, because of this confusion, foreign postal agencies are simply saying NO to shipping packages to the US.  And I can't blame them one bit.

Even though my package is being delivered by UPS, is my package one of those affected?

I'll be contacting UPS to find out more about what's going on.  If I have to pay a reasonable duty right now, I'll consider it.  If not, I'll write off this purchase for now.  But if I have to write off this package, I'll avoid doing business with Ulla Popken (a great German retailer) until things clear up. 

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PS1: Before I had the chance to call UPS, I saw an update - they expect to deliver the package tomorrow (as I write this, Wednesday).  I'll make an update to this post if delivery occurs as now expected.

PS2: UPS changed the delivery date again.  Contacted UPS to find out why package is delayed.  Will update this post as new information is received.  Hopefully, I will finally receive the package as now scheduled.

PS3: UPS Keeps pushing back the delivery date.  It's now scheduled for Friday.  Will need to call their phone number for international deliveries to see what's up. 

PS4: Late last night, UPS reported the package was in "Clearance Scan" state (I couldn't capture this on time).  This morning, it is "On The Way".  I wonder whether I will receive the package on Friday as now scheduled.

PS5: The package is finally on its way.  It's hard to believe that it took 2 weeks to clear importation procedures in Philadelphia.  Hopefully, there will be no more delays, and the package will be at my door as now scheduled. 

PS6: Things have now gotten ridiculous!  The package was delivered on Monday as was now scheduled, but to the wrong address! (My doorway looks nothing like the doorway above.)  Around 7:30, I filed a report of package mis-delivery, and by 7:50, I received a call back.  UPS had delivered the item to the wrong address - about 1/4 mile away from my apartment.  Although the person at the other end of the line explained how this could happen (several properties on my hill have similar addresses), UPS should train its delivery workers better to deliver goods in areas like mine.

 

PS7: On Tuesday, I contacted UPS again around 9:45 am, and they mentioned that the issue has been reported to the local delivery center.  Hopefully, I will hear back from them by the afternoon.  Then I contacted Ulla Popken, where my request for a new shipment or refund was passed to the shipping department for processing.

 

PS8: Around 7:30 pm on Tuesday, I got another call from UPS asking me about the mis-delivered package.  She confirmed where the package was delivered, and I mentioned again that that is not my address.  It's hard to believe how screwed up UPS can be when they deliver a package to the wrong address.

 

PS9: This afternoon, I found a package near my mailbox.  The shipment from Ulla Popken had finally arrived.  So, I sent an email to Ulla's customer service, saying that UPS finally delivered the package, and that finally, all was right with the world.  19 days from date of order to delivery - AARGH!  At least, I now have the package.

 

 

Now that I'm home, I'm catching up on things

 

It took me roughly 2 hours to get home today, and I'm starting to take care of things needed to get me through the week. 

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Returning home after a weekend with RQS can be a pain, as I know of all the tasks to take care of when I get home.  For example, unlike my brother, I prefer NOT to use my bank's phone app to take care of bill payments and other things.  My financials are way too important to me to trust to a device that can get easily stolen (as happened with my wallet in Chicago a couple of years ago).  So, moving money from my personal account to the account dedicated to the family homestead had to be done from home.  But there were other tasks to take care of, such as 2 loads of laundry.  That got done this evening.  And I was expecting a delivery from Ulla Popken which UPS reports is stuck in Philadelphia.  (Dollars to donuts, the shipment is being delayed because US Customs isn't clearing the shipment due to the government shutdown.)

Normally, I'd have taken the time to switch into Marian mode and relax.  However, I have to present as Mario in the morning when I visit my doctor, as well as meeting the management company's site representative for a run through of the vacant apartment we are auctioning off next week.  Only after this is taken care of will I be able to switch into Marian mode and get my nails done (if I have the time) before going to a meetup in Valhalla.

I still have a big mess to straighten up over here, as well as laundry to fold and put away.  Those tasks can wait.  I'm tired and want to rest for a while.