Wednesday, July 23, 2008

colorado: day 15 (wedn 7/23)

I have definitely crossed the polite "I'm just checking to see if any of my mail has arrived, yet" line - said with a smile - to the "who else can I talk to about my mail" - said with a blank I-mean-business face. I am sooooo frustrated.

The first piece of mail I was expecting was a simple envelope with a one-page tri-copy form inside. At first I thought maybe the sender didn't get it out as soon as she expected (I was guessing it was probably mailed July 11th or 14th), so I wasn't going to get concerned unless I didn't have it by the end of last week.

The second item was a new battery for my Blackberry, because, for some odd reason ("altitude" has been given as an answer, without an explanation) my phone battery is not working well. This is a new battery, less than three months old. At home it would hold a charge, *with frequent use* for two to three days. Here, I noticed pretty quickly that, despite being charged fully at night, it was down to the blinking red and yellow sliver of a battery by the end of my work day the next day. Weird! I couldn't remember the name of the company I bought it from, so I decided to just order a new one and have it sent here. That is my connection to the agencies and individuals for my work and my phone. There is not an electronic store near here, so I decided it would be more efficient to just have one shipped. I ordered that either the night of 7/11 or on 7/12. It was shipped on 7/15. I found out on Monday that there is a delivery confirmation of it arriving here on 7/18. Okay, I thought ... the weekend. It's summer. I know there are many camps and such here at the university so it will be a little slower (I've been told that at least four times by the RAs in the dorm). But now it is Wednesday.

I also confirmed that the envelope with the form which is required for a job back at home, was mailed on either 7/10 or 7/11. Now it is 7/23 and no form. No battery. My opinion: no excuse. Unfortunately, I don't know who else to go to. I will try to find out from the program coordinator if there is another contact she has. This is really ridiculous now... especially the envelope. I would expect the mail room staff to have gotten the battery here by now - since I know it was on campus last Friday. Grrrrr. I hope it all gets here before I leave. Luckily, pages are slow now and I'm not using the phone part much, so the Blackberry is holding the charge until I get back to my room. But if I make a call, it runs out quicker.

And, while annoying, my roommate has it worse. Not the mail, but her tooth. She had a tooth break on our trip to the mountains last weekend. It had been hurting and she was hoping to wait until she got home to her own dentist to take care of whatever was wrong. That didn't happen and now she has to have what is left dug out because it broke off under the gumline and it is now infected. She goes in at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I'd rather be out $20 for a battery and delay starting the job because I have to do the form after I get home than to go to a strange dentist in a strange town. Eeek.

Then there is another staff person whose husband was here with her the first week. (They had to stay in a hotel - which was fine - because we can't have guests/family staying with us in the dorms.) He left on Sunday and, on the drive home to Texas, he hit - and killed - a cow. He is fine, the dog is fine, the truck? Not so fine. But he did get someone to drive him to Texas, where he got his other truck and will go back to pick up the damaged one.
Another staff person's 10-year-old dog (I think it's a Schnoodle), was recently diagnosed with diabetes. She is also staying in a nearby hotel, because we can't have animals in the dorms, either. Last Friday the dog's blood sugar shot way up (380-400 when it should be 80-130) and she had to take it to the vet. The blood sugar has come down a little and she really likes the vet here .... but it's another thing to deal with. Then on Saturday at the mountain park, she went walking up the tundra trail with the dog. She missed the signs (it was small and low) with a picture of a person and a dog with the red circle with a line through it ... she got fined $125 for taking the dog up the trail.

Comparatively, my losses or delays are small in comparison. It still irks me; but I'll accept them if they can't be found. When I talked to the RA last night he asked if I was the person who had given him the confirmation number. I said "no," but I can provide you with one if it will help. He said it wouldn't. Apparently I am not alone in lost mail. I didn't go tonight because there was a slightly tense situation with one student and I didn't want to get any more irritated than I already was. I have been promised a couple of times that there will be a note on my door if any mail comes. Every day I get off the elevator and peer to my left to see if there is a sticky note with my name. But nothing so far.