I purchased this new gadget over the internets last week. They shipped it "FedEx Ground," with a three day window for when it would arrive.

That would be yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I knew it would be yesterday.

That's because FedEx has always been good about deliveries. Yesterday I hung out around the House before going into work. I knew they would show up. Here's the thing. I live in an apartment behind the main house. And we share the same address. So, I put a sign up on the door:

I stuck around a couple of hours, then had to get on to work. I track the package on the net at work. They tried to deliver around one o'clock. Nice feature! :)

Today, I decided to stay home to make sure I got the package. It's important. More on that in a minute. :) I put the sign back up this morning, and waited. Around noon, I make a nice panini sandwich for lunch. Before sitting down to eat, something tells me to check the sign on the front door. It's been raining a lot, and I wanted to make sure it hadn't blown off the door. This is what I walked up to:

Now There's Your Sign
Yes, the driver put another "no one home" notice above my sign! It said they tried to deliver at 12:10. My watch read 12:07. That means I'll miss my delivery in three minutes! Or that I JUST missed him and should jump in my car and try to find this... fill in the blank.

Where would a delivery driver go next? My first instinct is that it's lunchtime. I hit the closest main commercial road, looking for a FedEx Ground Truck at an eating establishment. And they're different. They have the EX in green, rather than red. YES! I found one just a couple of blocks away.

A False Positive
But no. The driver tells me that "residential" deliveries are handled by a different division. They're independent contractors, or something like that. Home owned and operated. The Amway of shipping, I guess. The guy tells me that residential trucks are smaller. "Are they labeled FedEx?" I ask. He says they are, but they have the image of a dog on the side of the truck. "A dog?" "Yeah," he says. "And he's got something in his mouth. A package, or bone, or something."

I go home, eat my now lukewarm panini, and stew. No, I didn't have stew. I was stewing. Ten minutes later I'm back out on the road, determined to find this truck. I know, not logical. I spent two hours cruising the neighborhoods within twenty minutes of my place. Did I mention it was raining? I saw five regular FedEx trucks, and maybe 12 U.S. Postal Service vehicles. I was chasing any big white truck. I felt like a dog myself! :) If there was a plus side, I got to see a lot of neighborhoods I hadn't seen before! Lots of homes for sale. Every home has a story, but it kind of made me sad.

FedUp?
I eventually gave up. No, I changed strategy. I went out to FedEx Central, where everything is happening. As soon as I walk in, the lady says, "Are you looking for FedEx Ground?" She saw the sticker they left, in my hand. That's why it's GREEN! She tells me to drive down the road to their "Ground" operations. And she tells me this: "When you get there, they've got this turnstill you go through that turns around, like prison." I swear.

Upon arrival, there's two folks outside the turnstill, smoking cigarettes in the rain. Never underestimate the power of nicotine! :) I tell them my story, even offer to show them pics of the sign I took with my camera! They decline. One guy asks, "Where was the delivery?" I tell him and he says, "That's Eric. His truck's in the shop. He's using a rental."

So, I've spent the entire afternoon on a wild goose chase looking for a truck that was actually in a shop getting repairs. In the rain. Craning my head around like a wild badger. That was the bad news. The good news was, they got Eric on the phone. We met up, and I got my gadget! :)

Why It Was Important
The gadget is a relatively new digital audio recorder from Olympus, the LS-10. I've been looking for a decent audio recorder. One, to record live music, and two, to maybe make recordings I could share with friends! :) This is what I've been looking for. Here's what it looks like:

The reason for the urgency, my nephew-in-law is getting married this weekend. And my bro is doing the video. One of the big problems with video taping weddings, and in general, is sound. So, my epiphany. Record the nuptials separately from the video, with a decent recorder. Then dub the good sound over the video! But now my bro is on a learning curve. They leave for the wedding on Friday, wedding Saturday. He's a tech guy, he'll make it work. :)

This sound thing is a whole new universe for me. I've heard about "podcasts," but I think that's above my pay grade at the moment. I hope to be able to incorporate it into my blogs here. We'll see. I do know one thing. Miss Prissy wants you to hear her say HEY!

:)
TG