The Birthday Present

There’s a birthday coming up at This D*mn House! The problem has been trying to ensure that the birthday present doesn’t go to This D*mn House – until I take it there.

I bought the mother, whose birthday is next Friday, a Bose Sound Dock. The crappy little speaker/charger I bought with her iPod Shuffle on Mother’s Day has died. Rather than replace it with an equally ineffective piece of junk, I decided to look into a serious upgrade. And when I found one online at an amazing price, I decided to bite the bullet. (Even so, this is going to count for some of her Christmas, too.) I still have to buy an adapter for it, also. Ugh.

Ordering was no problem. The difficulty came with trying to have the item shipped to My D*mn Office. (It would kind of ruin the surprise for it to show up at home. Where the mother is. All day.) I regularly have things that I buy for her shipped to work as there really is almost no other way for me to retain the element of surprise.

Three emails and two phone calls to and two more from the credit card company and I think we’re finally clear. At least I think we are. Or, I hope we are. I did get an email this morning telling me that the item had shipped and should arrive Friday. Whew! I was beginning to think that a week wasn’t going to be long enough to get it here.

I do appreciate that both the merchant and my credit card company want to be sure I’m me. I guess that hassle beats the hassle of trying to prove I didn’t buy something, right?

Ever had difficulty buying something online and having it shipped anywhere other than home?

Workin' on a Moonburn

My iPod is a better predictor of rain than any forecaster ever dare be. I should have known on Saturday when during my many errands, back to back, it played: BB King's "Stormy Monday," "Rain King" by Counting Crows, "Red Rain" by Peter Gabriel, the Doors' "Riders on the Storm"as interpreted by Creed, and "When I Look to the Sky," by Train of which the entire opening is about rain.

This is the second time in recent weeks that it has done that and it has rained like hell within the next 24 hours. (Deluge out of nowhere late Saturday night and on and off rain all day on Sunday.)

And, of course, since I have to work, it's going to be dry Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. And, since I get off early on Thursday and am off on Friday, it's supposed to pour. Also storm chances on Saturday and Sunday. Not sure what the first part of the week looks like but it will probably rain then, too, as I am taking vacation Monday and Tuesday.

So, it appears I'll be workin' on a moonburn through midweek, going straight from the job where I make the money to the other job where I spend it. It's particularly aggravating because, except for digging out the front section and putting in bricks, I'm very, very close to having the larger portion of the porch DONE. So close, but not done.

We'll see what the iPod says tonight …