US Postal Service SUCKS!

... and they wonder why they keep losing money.

Here's a friendly advice for anyone who's about to file a change of address: DO NOT DO THIS ON THE USPS WEBSITE! You might as well not file a change of address - it is that ineffective.

I moved to a new house and decided to file a change of address on the USPS website. I got all the confirmation number, and even got a letter from the USPS with coupons that I've checked.

Guess what? 2 weeks on and I had received NO forwarding mail at all! A check with our former landlord indicated that the mail person had been returning all of our mail back to sender since there were no forwarding address on record! We made a phone call to the USPS customer service, and she couldn't find ANY record of a change of address request, even when we cited our confirmation number! It's as if we never filed anything, and everything we entered on the web just went POOF!

Note that this happened for BOTH of us, and we did this on separate days too. I have no idea what mail we missed that never got forwarded. We refiled our change of address with the customer service person on the phone, but hey, who knows if THAT would get through as well!

This is a joke! And I'm not taking this lying down. I have all the documents printed out that indicated that we did file for a change of address online, and that they screwed up big time. I'm going to write a complaint to the Postmaster General and ask for my $1 back! They charged $1 on a credit card to verify your identity online. And yes, I want my damn $1 back because it did NOTHING and I'm royally pissed!

I've had mail being delivered 2 weeks late, and other poor services that I'm willing to overlook. But this is just plain stupid. You promised a service, and even with all the technology, you have morons running it. I'm not sure how many people have been taken in with their website, but I certainly will make sure enough people know about this. It may not do much to change their stupidity, but I certainly won't just sit here and take this. They lied, and did not provide the service that they promised!


Zz.

Stupid Black Friday Failure

So I was out at Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville, Iowa, this morning along with throngs of people shopping their heads of for the early morning Black Friday sale. The big stores at the mall such as Yonkers, Sears, JC Penney opened at 4:00 am, while Best Buy and Target opened at 5:00 am.

Now, the inside-mall entrance to Target is next to the food court. There was already a long line of shoppers way before the doors opened for both Target and Best Buy, which is next to Target. Now, one would think that you got this long lines of people waiting to get in, and with the big stores in the mall already open, you have this large number of potential customers who haven't had their breakfast and their coffee that morning. If I were a proprietor of one of these eating establishment at the food court, it is a no-brainer that I would open my store to serve breakfast. Guess what? Only ONE counter serving breakfast/coffee was open early in the morning, and even they had very limited menu (no breakfast burito). Other establishments, especially Panera Bread, didn't open till 6:00 am, waaaaay after the lines getting into Target was long gone.

One doesn't need an MBA degree to realize that there was a missing opportunity here to make money. In this tough economic times, you'd think that someone would do a little bit of thinking on how to take advantage of such a window of opportunity to make money. Even considering the salary they have to pay to get people to come in early that morning, I'd think they'd make enough to cover those within the first 15 minutes of opening. It boggled my mind that in all of that mall, only ONE place was open by around 5:00 am to serve coffee/breakfast. Even with a limited breakfast service, that counter service was having non-stop lines servicing bad coffee and mediocre rolls and bagels. Imagine a Panera Bread opening at the same time. It'll clean up big time simply from all those people standing in line to get into Best Buy and Target, not to mention, the shoppers coming in from Yonkers, JC Penny, etc.

Have people lost the instinct to recognize a golden opportunity here?

Zz.

Last Night In The City

We had just spent our last night at the old apartment, where we had lived for the past 16 1/2 years. Starting tonight, we will be living at our new home in the 'burbs.

It was bitter sweet this morning as I drive into work heading south on North Lake Shore Drive. The sun hadn't risen yet over the horizon, but there was already pink and red hues in the sky. I've always wanted to wake up early one fine morning and ride to the lakefront to snap some pictures, but never got around to it. Now, it's probably too late. I savored that last early morning drive by the lake.

Oh sure, I'll miss the city. But I'm at the point in my life where I just want to get away from the city noise, and more importantly, have a quiet backyard large enough for ample outdoor living and entertaining, not to mention, gardening. Priorities change, and mine certainly have. That's why we make our choices, and different choices, at different stages of our lives.

I'm now officially in suburbia.

Zz.

Another Hypocrite Gets Taken Down

Former Miss California Carrie Prejean has settled all lawsuits between her and the Miss USA Pageant. Why the sudden change of hearts? Apparently word leaked out that there's a rather explicit sex tapes starring our do-gooder Prejean herself!

So she opposed gay marriage based on such high moral grounds, eh? Well guess what? Those same "moral grounds" are taking her down as well! Another hypocrite gets gets taken down!

Zz.

Another Reason To Eat Curry

Not wanting to jump onto the bandwagon here since medical research tends to require a bit of time to "digest" {pun intended} and be verified, but new research suggest that the tumeric in curries may fight against esophageal cancer cells.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin -- a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color -- and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumors and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

They don't have to sell it to me, since I love curries and indian food anyway. I just wish that the curries that I like don't have that much salt and that much calories and fat. So yeah, they fight cancer, but they make you obese! So not sure if this is fair trade-off!

But all this blogging about curries makes me crave for indian food....

Zz.

Suburbs Here I Come!

I first lived in Chicago in 1985. I'd say it was love at first sight, even though back then, the Loop was NASTY, especially after dark. I mean, it wasn't mean and nasty like Times Square before it turned Disney, but still, people try to get out of the Loop as soon as work is done.

Now, the city is marvelous, and there's life in the city even during off-hours. And I've lived within the city limits ever since. So it is with quite a bit of trepidation that I decided to buy a house out in the suburbs. Yes folks, I'm one of those people who finally decided to take advantage of (i) the $8000 tax credit for first time home buyers (ii) the "historically low" mortgage rate and (iii) the very attractive house prices. We bought a house, and will close this week.

But oh the anxiety! And not just due to the burden of owning a house and almost emptying out my savings. It is the anxiety on life in the suburbs. I wanted a sizable house, with ample storage, a family room, a spacious kitchen, and more importantly, a nice backyard that's quiet, where I can spend many days outdoors. To get that, and within a reasonable price, I had to leave the city limits.

I plan to move out in mid November. I'll miss the city, but plan on being back many times, especially when I crave for good Vietnamese food, or good Ethiopian food, or good Korean food.

Zz.

Your Poo and Piss Are THAT Heavy?

So, the All Nippon Airways of Japan (a very well-respected airline, I might say, so this is not some rinky-dink airline) wants you to go to the bathroom before you board one of their planes. They do not want you to use the airplane's washroom during the flight, if you can. Why do they want you to do that? Is it because they have limited bathroom facility? Because they want minimal disruption to the in-flight service?

NO! They want you to go so that you'll make the plane LIGHTER! Your poo and piss are heavy! I'm not making this up!

"Asking passengers to go to the toilet (before boarding) is just a small part of the program," said spokeswoman Megumi Tezuka, which includes using recycled paper cups and plastic bottles instead of glass.

"We are making these items lighter -- and making the passengers lighter, a little bit," Tezuka said.

The airline estimates that if 50 percent of passengers relieved themselves before boarding, it would reduce carbon dioxide by 4.2 tons a month.

I suppose this may make sense in Japan where on average, people are smaller and not overweight. Here in the US, if everyone just stay away from that doughnut, why, all the airlines would make a huge profit from using less fuel in a year, with or without that pre-board bathroom break! :)

Hey, I just had a thought. Maybe they'll have a toilet seat and a urinal right at the gate and make passengers relief themselves before they board! :)

Zz.