Where in the World is Rebecca Today?

We used UPS again for my birthday package since we can track it every step of the way.

I just checked, and here’s the stats on my birthday package:

In Transit – On Time
Scheduled Delivery: 29/08/2008
Shipped To: DAUPHIN, MB, CA
Shipped/Billed On: 25/08/2008
Service: STANDARD
Weight: 1.90 Lbs

So….not only is it scheduled to arrive the day *after* my birthday, it’s scheduled to arrive the day we leave for camping….which means I won’t actually be able to get it/open it until Monday….which also means it might sit outside with no one around…I *really* don’t like that. Does anyone know if I can call UPS and tell them to hold it until Tuesday, when I know for sure I’ll be home?

It’s a chilly, raining day today. Which is a nice change from the overly hot made-me-feel-like-I-was-down-South weather we had been having here. I was planning on walking down to the library, but not with this weather! Fortunately, I received my care package from my mom yesterday, so on this chilly day I can have Ramen soup mixed with some veggies and a nice cup of Swiss Miss.

Inspected by customs

My loot – iced tea bags, lemonade mix, ramen noodles, coffee singles, the Sunday paper, and two bottles of bodywash (not pictured)

The only thing missing today is my big U-M sweatshirt to snuggle up in, but since I didn’t pack it, I’m sort of out of luck with that.

Oh, and because this was cute:

Quincy, stretched out on the newspaper, with Lolly to the side.

he pulled Lolly over across him, though i did reposition her so she was face side up!

This afternoon I’m headed to the farmer’s market with C, so expect lots of photos later!

My mom put together a package for me with some US-based food items I couldn’t find up here that I wanted – pizza dough, some powdered drink mixes, my favourite brand of iced tea, etc. I suggested she use UPS because I thought it might be cheaper since international postage seems to be skyrocketing lately (seriously, I sent a light manilla envelope to Tim before I left and it cost $14!).

She sent the package on the 15th, and was told I’d get it on Wednesday (today). My package made it all the way to Winnipeg by the 16th according to the online tracking, and I was sort of puzzled about that because if it was in Winnipeg….why was it going to take it four more days to get to me? I checked online a few days later, and the package was no longer in Winnipeg…it was in Minneapolis. Yep. Somehow, my package went to Canada then back to the US. Yesterday, it said the package was scheduled for being “on time”, but then a few hours later,it was listed as being in Winnipeg with an “exception”. UPS customer service have no idea what they are talking about and the person I spoke with had no explanation for me. Finally, the exception changed to “Pending clearing house”. Okay, that’s customs. Then, it was “Expired: Unable to resolve exception”. Again, I called UPS and the girl I spoke with didn’t know what that meant. I told her it looked like I might not be getting my package if “Exception” was going through customs and the package couldn’t make it through customs. Someone from UPS was supposed to call me back yesterday (they didn’t). This morning, I fired up tracking to discover my package was “on time” and said it’d be delivered today….but usually on the UPS site it says “out for delivery” on the day it’s getting delivered, but I thought maybe UPS in Canada was different, so I ignored it. A few minutes ago, I loaded the tracking again to see what it said, and it once again says “exception” and “SHIPMENT PENDING RELEASE FROM CLEARANCE AGENCY / RELEASED BY CLEARING AGENCY. NOW IN-TRANSIT FOR DELIVERY”….and still in Winnipeg. Winnipeg is 200 miles away from here. So….my package is going to get here today, but at 2PM it was just leaving Winnipeg? Something doesn’t add up here. Even better? Now when I check tracking it completely took away half of what I had tracked the past few days and now it only shows the package as going from East Petersburg, PA to Minneapolis to Winnipeg….and none of the other crap is listed in the tracking.

The person I spoke with over the phone even verified the address the package was going to….so I have no freaking clue what’s going on with this package, but it’s frustrating me because I want to go out and walk around or go to the library, but I feel like I can’t leave the house just in case the package shows up!

I think I’m going to advise my mom if she’s sending another package to me here to send it via USPS….unless the package does miraculously show up today and all this “exception” stuff doesn’t mean anything.