Advertised as “in stock,” it will take us 5-6 days to transport your purchase of a single bed sheet 25 miles. What? There’s something wrong with that? What? Did you specify express delivery?
Tortoise, go!
Tag: services
A package arrives
Residents of Uruguay can bring in some things duty-free. I think currently it’s three times per year, has to be by courier or Uruguayan Post’s program, and value limited to USD 200, including shipping costs. I used it recently to ship down a refurbished Macintosh keyboard. The day after it arrived my wife’s Macintosh keyboard started to fail as well. So I ordered another for around USD 50, again with some clothing items my wife wanted, keeping under $200 and under 2 kg (courier service charges by the kilo).
The same keyboard new in the US is USD 163 new, which is quite ridiculous. I don’t want a wireless keyboard – not long ago I wired our two computers with ethernet and turned off wifi – but even if I did, what Apple offers, USD 99 in the US, is ridiculous here:
And Apple is “different” enough that anything else I can buy locally will only work with Windows. I tried. Keys all jumbled, regardless of computer language settings.
To get here, the goods had to be shipped to Florida, consolidated, cleared through Customs here, and delivered. Today we discovered the sodden delivery notice in our mailbox:
There is no date. Apparently it was from yesterday, telling me that since nobody was home, we won’t do that UPS/Fedex thing and try again. You have to come to our office (oval: what?) hour on the seventh of January two-thousand-backwards-nine-nineteen.
I went to the DAC office, less than two kilometers away, and was told by a lady with a broom there that I would have to go to Montevideo. I pointed out that we were standing at the intersection of Artigas and Circunvolación, as indicated on the slip. She then went inside and asked the girl, who recognized the name and directed her to a top corner shelf, which she could barely get to through stacks of boxes.
As she did that, I scanned the shelves, immediately spotted the USPS Priority Mail box and retrieved it.
So, another “something actually accomplished” in Uruguay, something that those living in lands of consumer convenience probably can’t even begin to appreciate. And on a further ‘Murkan note, I got a kick out of the receipt: when was the last time you got a receipt with “God bless” handwritten on it?
No doubt the last time you ordered from Saved Computers.
Good work if you can get it
Ordering a (very) few things for delivery in the Untied Snakes, I was thrilled — of course — to see that Amazon offers Expert installation of AAA batteries, because I’ve never really mastered that. And the price certainly seems reasonable.
Have tajamar, seek water
After yesterday’s pozo negro, our friendly backhoe (retroexcavadora) operator started in on the tajamar, or pond (background) in the local lingo, which we hope will fill with runoff water, for which here he’s digging a diversion channel from the road. ‘Tis an experiment; I’m not sure rainewater will be enough, but we always have the windmill, and by now a considerable length of hose, since I planted out fruit trees far from the house.
Last night he parked his backhoe at our neighbor’s, because someone lives there. He left on his moto, and I was wondering about the logistics of that.
Lo me encanta, I said as I watched him strap the moto into the bucket as he prepared to leave. I love it.
Uruguayo, he replied, beaming, of course pronouncing it ur-u-GUA-zho.
A little noise can be a good thing
I’ve mentioned the noisy airplane advertising and motorcycle advertising. This story comes from our friends Syd and Gundy who used the motorcycle advertising service, with a rather remarkable result.
Their dog Leah disappeared on Christmas afternoon 2011. They had briefly attended a get-together near us, then returned home to prepare dinner for guests joining them at 5pm. At about 4pm, Syd took the dogs out to the woods for a walk. Fireworks exploded. Leah went into panic mode and fled. Syd searched, returned home for an uncomfortable dinner, and then their guests joined them for another search. He continued searching on his own until dark and early the next morning and again in the afternoon.
Two days after, a Spanish-speaking friend suggested an ad on the loudspeaker bike, and went with them to order it. While making the aural message, the company suggested posters, included in their cost. The posters ended up in vet offices and places where dog food is sold. One of those posters was seen by that same friend’s daughter’s ex-boyfriend, who had seen a Facebook posting by a couple in Pando (20 km away) showing the dog they had found at the beach in Atlántida. He realized they were likely the same dog, told his Facebook friends how to contact his ex-girlfriend, who told her mother, who emailed Syd and Gundy a link to the Facebook posting.
Thus Leah was rescued, having been very well taken care of in the meantime, as a result of noisy motorcycle advertising.
