Postal

Everyone has heard the phrase, "going postal" but I just recently discovered that it is sooooo true. I absolutely hate the US Postal Service. Yes, I know hate is a very strong word, and I try to teach my kids to not hate anyone or anything, but damn it I hate the USPS. Here's a little back story.....

Imagine, you are deployed and you have your mail forwarded to your lovely parents/in-laws, now imagine that you are home from said deployment, and wish to get your mail delivered to your original address. Imagine the frustrations of dealing with the USPS for two months and being continually reassured that everything is fixed and still having your mail delivered to some where other than your address.

Here's what happened. We moved to Alabama and then Florida, rather than have our mail forwarded over and over again, we just forwarded it to Bonnie and Joe's and they put what was urgent in an envelope and sent it to us where ever we were. This worked out great, I had no problems with this situation at all. When we left Florida I forwarded our mail from our Pocahontas Drive, Ft Walton Beach address to our Coarsegold address and canceled our forward to Clovis, no problem. Until we got home.

We are home about a week and I was concerned, we had only one delivery of mail. So I went down to the post office and they said that there was a forward in place, and I told them that I canceled that forward. They went and looked at their handy dandy computer and they said, "oh, so there is a cancellation in place, we will make sure this is fixed." Okay, foolish me believed them.

Then Joe gave me a handful of mail and it was all addressed to us in Coarsegold, but it was delivered to him in Clovis! WTF!!! So, off I went back to the USPS. I went in calm, and I explained what happened. What did the Postmaster tell me? He told me (and this is a direct quote) "It is physically impossible for mail with one address to be delivered to another." Really? Are you sure? Because it happened. He called me a liar, and told me to go get the mail and prove it. He fully expected me to come in with mail with the snazzy yellow sticker of a forward on it, but NO I had physical proof that he's full of crap. He did apologize and then he said that he personally would make sure it was fixed. Okay, again I believed him......

I got a message on our phone and it's the postmaster, he personally fixed the problem and it wouldn't ever happen again. Again, really? Are you sure? Okay, I will take him at his word, and it did seem to be fixed, until about a week later, there was mail with a forward sticker delivered to Joe in Clovis!!! WTF! So, again I troop down to the post office. They "fix" it while I am standing there, and they showed me the print out of their system showing that the forward was deleted. Here's another direct quote; "As of February 8th there won't be any more forwards to the Clovis address." Aaaahhhh, finally it's fixed, I can breath easy.

The kids went and spent the night over at Bonnie and Joe's this weekend (02/19/10) when they get home Madeline hands us two letters with our Coarsegold address on them that were delivered to Clovis!!!! AARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!! What the F**K!!!! The letters were our insurance cards, pretty important stuff, and they were addressed to us in Coarsegold and delivered to Clovis!


Un-freaking-believable! So I went back to the post office, and I get a COMPLETE blow-off! Oh, I was pissed, the oh so "helpful" postmaster is conveniently no longer at this office, and they don't have a postmaster, so they are going to put in another delete of a forward. I was COMPLETELY stonewalled. I tried sooo hard to be polite, and nice. I tried sooooo hard not to turn into a screeching banshee. But honestly I can understand the urge to go crazy and start taking people out at the post office. I am not a violent person at all, I love people but damn it I was shaking when I left because I was so mad.

There's a little sticker on the door of the post office that has a penal code written on it saying that it is illegal to bring firearms into the post office. I had seen the sign several times and I always thought it was funny, why would anyone bring a firearm into the post office, teehee. The laugh is on me, I can completely understand why that is on the door.

aaahhh, I do feel better now. A little calmer, but every time I think about it my blood pressure rises.

Irritated

Okay, I know that I am newish to blogging, but damn if I couldn't get spaces in between my paragraphs in my last post! I went into edit post and I put the spaces in, but the just won't show up in the final post. aaaarrrrggghhh. What good is an "Edit Post" tab if it won't actually let you edit the post!? I am sure that it's operator error but it was horribly aggravating for me. Sigh, now I feel better that I have whined and complained.

Home~

It was recently pointed out to me that I haven't posted anything new in quite a while. It was news to me that anyone actually reads my blog. HA! So, here's a shout out to my loyal followers, "Hey Judy. Hey, Jen. You guys rock!"

We finally made it home to California. I never really realized how much of a California girl at heart I am. I am not saying CA is better or anything, but for me it's home. I like the fog in the winter, I like the freezing cold mornings followed by sunny beautiful clear days. I love watching the fruit trees bloom, and the normally golden hills turn stunningly green and lush for a few months. I will even love the 110 degree heat in the summer.

Driving across the USA was fun. I dare to say, I would actually do it again if the opportunity presented itself. I enjoy seeing the variety in scenery in the different states. I got to see a wild alligator in a swamp sunning itself on a log in Louisiana. Matt and Madeline saw two zebra's, somewhere in the hills just inside of Texas. We saw antelope in Texas, and I saw a huge porcupine (dead on the side of the road). The best part of the entire trip for me was when we took a short side trip to Tombstone Arizona, and as we were leaving the sun was setting and the colors and the mountains were just stunning. At that point I knew we were almost home. How I had missed the mountains. I never realized how much I missed having mountains around me.

Now that we are home, and the kids are back into school. I have dedicated my days to exercise, (gasp) and finding a job. First off exercise because I am turning 40 in less than 6 months and that scares the crap out of me. I want to start my 40's in better shape than I started my 30's. Granted I started my 30's pregnant, but there really isn't any excuse.

As it turns out exercise is the easiest part of my day. Finding a job in California is next to impossible! I have been rejected by just about everyone I have come into contact with. I even got rejected by the IRS!!! The freaking IRS doesn't want me, who on earth would have ever thought that I couldn't get a job with the IRS in the middle of tax season!?

Rejection has become part of my day. Get up, get the kids to school and Matt off to work (thank goodness he still has his job), come home eat oatmeal for breakfast, do my hour on the elliptical, and weights, then I sit my butt down at the computer and start getting rejected.....At which point I get irritated at my continued rejection and go on Facebook.

Facebook is a HUGE time drain. I can be on for what feels like just a few minutes, and then I look at the handy dandy clock in the corner of the computer screen and notice that it's been 2 hours!!! Holy, freaking Cow! Yet, Facebook has become the balm to my continuing rejection at the job hunting part of my day. I enjoy Facebook because I can communicate with friends who are also unemployed and hating life. Misery loves company.

I try to enjoy the time I am home. I love being able to pick up the kids from school and help them with their homework. Heaven knows that Connor needs extra help to get him caught up from the sucky Florida schools. I like being able to sit and enjoy the silence, no noisy neighbors stomping around overhead, no angry wives talking on cell phones directly outside our door. (Can you tell I didn't really enjoy apartment life?) I just really wish I didn't feel like a complete drain on society. What on earth am I going to do if unemployment ever runs out?! Welfare?