Going Postal

(Phone rings)
Me: Hello?
HP: Hi, this is HP customer service. We recently received an order for a laptop and want to confirm shipping information.
Me (snickering to self): Yes?
HP: We have here a delivery address of (reads off our post office box), and a physical address of (reads our house addy).
Me: Yes, that's correct. The laptop needs to be shipped to the post office or it won't get to us.
HP (after a few moments of silence): It won't?
Me: No. We don't have home delivery here.
HP (after another few moments of silence): You don't? At all?
Me: No. If it's coming via UPS or FedEx, it will go from Anchorage to here through the post office anyway. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get it.
HP: Um, okay. If you're sure. Thank you. (hangs up)

I'm sure. Really.

Let me explain a little something about small town living. At least living in THIS small town. We have a very nice post office, with very kind and helpful postal employees. Everyone in town has a PO box. Everyone. Want to look in the phone book to find the physical location of a resident or business? Not gonna happen. All you'll see is a PO box listing. You'll have to call the place to get instructions. Granted, most businesses are within a four block area and not hard to find, but some are tucked into buildings and have no obvious signs. Locals just "know" where to go. It's very quaint. And a tad frustrating when you're new in town. It's like you have to be told the secret handshake or something. Luckily, we've been here long enough that we've become privy to the majority of hot locales. If you consider the lumber yard and laundromat "hot."

A number of years ago there was a community-wide vote regarding the US Postal Service and home delivery. An overwhelming majority voted down home delivery. (The postman doesn't ring at all here, let alone twice.) Why? Because like in most small towns, certain public places become the local equivalent of nature's watering holes. Grocery stores, gas stations, post offices, eventually most everyone hits these places because they have to. And want to. It gives people an excuse to get out and about on an almost daily basis. Or at least weekly.

Oh, and even if I were to tell you the name of my street, good luck finding it. There is no street sign and even locals have asked where, exactly, we live. If you come visit, I'll give you the secret handshake ;)

Liam's Gold by Jody Wallace

My pal Jody's newest release, Liam's Gold, is out now from Samhain Publishing. Never before had I considered leprechauns sexy, but take a look at that cover. Yum!

So get thee to Jody's site to read an excerpt and/or click on over to Samhain and buy the book. It's a shorter read, but packed with good stuff. Then again, ALL of Jody's stuff is good : )

Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

With the World Series and the presidential campaign FINALLY over, I can go back to mindless, uninterrupted-except-for-normal-commercials television watching. Thank goodness!

Is it just me, or does the baseball season seem to take longer and longer each year? Why do they need to play over 100 games and then go through two rounds of best of five playoffs? And the World Series itself is best of seven! What the hell is that all about? Maybe I'm just too much of a football fan. Regular season of 16 games, and you get to play others in your division once in your house and once in theirs. Period. Playoffs? Lose and you're out. Period. Let's move on to THE big game. End of season, except for the Pro Bowl for those who aren't too banged up.

As for the presidential election, the whole sorting out who's running and the primary thing shouldn't start until the year of the election. Seriously. No declaring your candidacy until January 1st of the election year. Not two years before. And then you have 6 months to win your party's nomination. Period. With the travel options and technology available today, candidates shouldn't need more than that. And while this plan may cut into running mate vetting time (down to one quick phone call instead of an hour face-to-face interview, maybe?), I think it will also tell us how organized a candidate is, how well they think on their feet.

So, shorten the baseball and campaign seasons. And give us back our mindless entertainment. Oh, wait, I said the campaigning was over, didn't I?