Found out today that Susan, one of my co-workers, is expecting. She’s the last person I would have pegged for that sort of thing, and we’re all still sort of in a state of shock. She seems happy, and her husband, Greg, who spilled the beans (talking about ‘the baby’ on the two-way radio this morning so that half the showroom could hear) is definitely thrilled. But I’m still agape.
Also I just learned that Holland, like much of Europe, has mainly pay toilets in all the public restrooms. Not a happy prospect for a pregnant woman who’s supposed to be drinking a lot of water.
We leave in two days. It hardly seems real. Right now we’re in our desperately-eating-up-all-the-leftovers-in-the-house stage. And – I thought I timed it just right, but it looks like we’re going to run out of milk tonight. Which means that I have to buy another whole gallon of milk, and then we’re going to have to drink it like crazy so it won’t go bad while we’re gone.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Friday, March 11, 2005
Highway robbery
So a few weeks ago it dawned on me that I’m six weeks out from an international trip and my passport is still in my maiden name. Now you would think that after a year and a half of marriage I would have thought about this at least once. And if I’d even thought about it, I could have bought the plane tickets in my maiden name, and all would have been well (the ticket simply has to match the name on the passport). But no. I did not think of it in time. So I called the Department of State to find out what my options were, and there is apparently no fee for an amended passport, and it only takes 6-8 weeks. Big whew! I even told the representative my dates of travel, since it would be cutting it close, and she assured me that the 6-8 week figure is an estimate, and that if I wrote down my dates of travel I should receive the passport back by then. So far so good.
Last week I still hadn’t heard anything, so, getting a little nervous, I called the Department of State to check on the status. ‘Oh,’ the customer service representative said brightly, ‘that’s scheduled to be mailed back to you on the 18th of March.’
‘I am leaving on the 19th of March,’ I explained. ‘I need it sooner than that. I even called several weeks ago to verify that it wouldn’t take the whole eight weeks to get the passport back. They said to write down the dates of travel on my request and it shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Well, our website clearly states that you need to allow up to eight weeks for your passport to be returned to you. So it’s been scheduled for processing and return on the 18th of March. I would be happy to take your credit card over the phone if you want to apply for the expedited service.’
Several things instantly occurred to me:
- I called several weeks ago to verify that I was in plenty of time NOT to have to pay for expedited service.
- March 18th is actually not precisely the right number of business days to allow. Did my writing my date of travel on my request give you the weapon you needed to decide when to schedule my passport return?
- I can understand being busy and all that, but what is so hard about putting a stamp in the back of a passport to amend it? How much of a backlog can you have to make it take that long AND how disorganised can you be to allow that margin of time, if you’re so well organised that you can track it in the system and if I pay you the fee right now, you can immediately locate it, process it, and return it to me, no questions asked?
- Where in the private sector would your respect for your clients be so low that you as good as tell them, ‘Someone in charge set an absolute outer limit on our slovenliness and low standards of customer service, and by gum, we’re going to take every excuse to use that to our advantage!’ ???
- This is highway robbery.
But instead of saying any of it I gave them my credit card number over the phone and politely requested the expedited service. What else could I do? They held all the cards. They had the monopoly. Within three days I received my passport back, duly stamped and updated. Isn’t our federal government a marvel of efficiency and service?
Last week I still hadn’t heard anything, so, getting a little nervous, I called the Department of State to check on the status. ‘Oh,’ the customer service representative said brightly, ‘that’s scheduled to be mailed back to you on the 18th of March.’
‘I am leaving on the 19th of March,’ I explained. ‘I need it sooner than that. I even called several weeks ago to verify that it wouldn’t take the whole eight weeks to get the passport back. They said to write down the dates of travel on my request and it shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘Well, our website clearly states that you need to allow up to eight weeks for your passport to be returned to you. So it’s been scheduled for processing and return on the 18th of March. I would be happy to take your credit card over the phone if you want to apply for the expedited service.’
Several things instantly occurred to me:
- I called several weeks ago to verify that I was in plenty of time NOT to have to pay for expedited service.
- March 18th is actually not precisely the right number of business days to allow. Did my writing my date of travel on my request give you the weapon you needed to decide when to schedule my passport return?
- I can understand being busy and all that, but what is so hard about putting a stamp in the back of a passport to amend it? How much of a backlog can you have to make it take that long AND how disorganised can you be to allow that margin of time, if you’re so well organised that you can track it in the system and if I pay you the fee right now, you can immediately locate it, process it, and return it to me, no questions asked?
- Where in the private sector would your respect for your clients be so low that you as good as tell them, ‘Someone in charge set an absolute outer limit on our slovenliness and low standards of customer service, and by gum, we’re going to take every excuse to use that to our advantage!’ ???
- This is highway robbery.
But instead of saying any of it I gave them my credit card number over the phone and politely requested the expedited service. What else could I do? They held all the cards. They had the monopoly. Within three days I received my passport back, duly stamped and updated. Isn’t our federal government a marvel of efficiency and service?
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Serendipity
Yesterday was a Very Long Day which ended on the happiest note possible. I walked through the door late at night, having gone straight from work to help serve Wednesday night dinner at our church, feeling very tired and extremely pregnant, groaning to Michael how we needed to go to bed early and all that. Five minutes later I leapt up from the computer, having just read Amy's wonderful post (http://kevin-amy.blogspot.com/) about free ice cream from Baskin Robbins on Yahoo's birthday. 'Michael! Do we have a Yahoo account? Well, let's get one!' Never mind that it was late and we were full from our Wednesday night dinner. Michael is extremely rational and practical, but he is also the dearest man in the world and very kind about humouring me, so we printed off our coupons, grabbed our coats, and dashed out to the nearest Baskin Robbins to collect our free scoops of ice cream.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
It's snowing!
I stepped out of my Dr.'s office this morning to discover small white flakes flurrying around me. Of course it's not sticking, but it's cold and wintry-looking, the skies are grey, and it's very exciting for the first day of March!
Speaking of doctor visits, Baby is developing into quite the acrobat here. No more mere flutters or even kicks. Last week I was sitting at my desk holding a piece of paper in one hand and comparing it against the master copy on the screen, when I noticed that the paper kept moving. Were my hands trembling? No. I was resting my forearm on my abdomen, and my entire hand was actually shaking with every kick. Baby's gotten into this new 'rebound' thing, when I'll feel a strong kick on one side, and then almost instantaneously a strong thump on the other side. Baby is literally bouncing off the walls.
Last night we watched The Dish, a very good movie based on a true story involving the landing on the moon. It's set in Australia, so it's fun to watch just for the accents. The characters are likeable (except for one annoying brat), and there is absolutely nothing objectionable except some bad language. Very wholesome, amusing, and interesting. I called Michael this morning on my way in and said, 'Carrier pigeons!' and we both burst out laughing.
I think we have something happening every single evening before we leave for Holland. Two and a half weeks and counting!
Speaking of doctor visits, Baby is developing into quite the acrobat here. No more mere flutters or even kicks. Last week I was sitting at my desk holding a piece of paper in one hand and comparing it against the master copy on the screen, when I noticed that the paper kept moving. Were my hands trembling? No. I was resting my forearm on my abdomen, and my entire hand was actually shaking with every kick. Baby's gotten into this new 'rebound' thing, when I'll feel a strong kick on one side, and then almost instantaneously a strong thump on the other side. Baby is literally bouncing off the walls.
Last night we watched The Dish, a very good movie based on a true story involving the landing on the moon. It's set in Australia, so it's fun to watch just for the accents. The characters are likeable (except for one annoying brat), and there is absolutely nothing objectionable except some bad language. Very wholesome, amusing, and interesting. I called Michael this morning on my way in and said, 'Carrier pigeons!' and we both burst out laughing.
I think we have something happening every single evening before we leave for Holland. Two and a half weeks and counting!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
