International Wedding = Ridiculous Situations
A story of my new found hatred for UPS

Alan and I are getting married in Mexico this May. I have a good friend in Mexico and she will be a bridesmaid for the occasion. Being the organizing planner-freak person that I am, I bought matching bridesmaid dresses for all my bridesmaid peeps and sent one to Mexico for my friend.

When I went to the UPS store, I asked if there would be any problems delivering the dress to my friend in Mexico. They said that they could deliver the dress without problems for the fee of $81 dollars (almost as much $ as the dress). I also insured the dress for the amount of $100, just in case. I've sent international packages before and I've never had problems with customs departments, so I really didn't worry about this aspect of my shipment. This was my first time shipping something to Mexico. I giddily stuffed that dress into an envelop and sent it along with my hopes for matching bridesmaids to Cuernavaca.

A day after the shipment was supposed to have arrived I checked the UPS tracker number to make sure everything was OK. As it turns out, everything was not OK. The dress had been stuck in the Mexican customs department (The Aduana) for the last three days. I had to make several phone calls to find out what the problem was, since UPS did not know and/or was not aware of the situation. - At this point, UPS starting sliding down my shit-o-meter. - My friend had to call and be called several times, in Mexico, in order to find out that someone would need to pay various "taxes" in the amount of 40 billion pesos, or approximately "$450 dollars", in order for the shipment to be completed. However, if she let the Aduana cut the dress to shreds they could re-package it and finish sending it for free.

$450 DOLLARS TO DELIVER A $107 DOLLAR DRESS, ON TOP OF WHAT I PAID TO UPS.

OR SHREDS.

I was horrified when I found out about the amount of money required to finish sending the dress. My jaw literally dropped and remained open for a good 15 sec. I could not believe that UPS didn't warn me about this. I thought UPS told me they could deliver the package without problems. $450 extra dollars IS A PROBLEM! I can only imagine that the Aduana offered the latter solution to ensure hilarity was associated with this horrible situation.

The next day I called UPS to complain. I had been misled. I paid them to provide a service, to deliver a package to my friend. They did not complete the delivery or warn me when my dress was detained. In addition, I would have NEVER sent the dress had they told me about how ridiculous the custom's taxes were going to be. I asked for my package to be returned and a refund. Given the situation, I thought I was being reasonable.

Apparently, UPS cannot give me a refund because Mexican Aduanas are not their responsibility. They told me that I had sent the package at my own risk and that they were not responsible for knowing how much the Aduana would charge. I was livid! I wanted to cry. How could they not know? How could they not have warned me! They are UPS. They send packages all over the world, everyday. You mean to tell me they have never sent anything to Mexico!!! You mean to tell me they had no idea the Aduana was going to try to rape my wallet over a dress? At this point, UPS was reaching critical mass on my shit-o-meter. Then it got worse.

I asked UPS about obtaining the insurance money I had signed up for; my dress was being held ransom by the Mexican government and I was being extorted. There was no way I could pay and there was no way for me to get my dress back. I believed this would qualify as a situation covered by insurance. UPS told me that they could not pay the insurance money because they had not "lost" my dress. I started to explain the meaning of the word "lost" but I stopped myself. I could tell I wasn't going to get anywhere. UPS didn't care if my package was delivered or not. UPS didn't care about the contents of my package and they certainly didn't care about me.

UPS actually had to nerve to offer to ship the package back to me as long as I paid for shipping again. They were unable to deliver the dress, so they wanted to charge me again. What on earth made them think I would want to give them more money? They wronged me. They should just give me back my dress.

Fortunately, not all was lost. I learned two good lessons from this three-way with the Mexican Government and UPS:
1) The moral of this story is that you should work at the Mexican Aduana because you will soon be filthy rich and posses many pretty dresses. I think I've found my new life calling.
2) You should boycott UPS for being slimy bastards.

Thought of the Day: Perspective

No matter how pathetic you feel, there is always someone worse off than you.
No mater how great you are, there is always someone greater.

Beautiful Day

Today was a beautiful day. Alan and I took a little day trip to Berkeley. We ate good food and hung out with friends. I, of course, took plenty of pictures. In the afternoon I made chocolate chip cookies.

Here I Am

Stuck on the Path, originally uploaded by A Morld of Wonder.

They Were Expensive

But love doesn't have a price...

Wedding Registry

Alan and I were opposed to the idea of having a wedding registry. We thought that we were already asking too much from our guests, with making people travel to Mexico and all. Besides, we live in a relatively small appartment and we don't have much room for big, fancy things. We have already been living together for over a year and our basic home-necesities have been covered for quite some time. We are independent -or something like that- and we don't need other people buying things for us. We can buy our own stuff, thank you very much. 

We changed our mind. 

We realized that many people who love us will not be able to make it to the wedding in Mexico. Alan and I cannot host a second reception in the US and we don't want people to feel left out. Our friends and family have made it clear that they want to contribute to our new lives as a couple. One of the traditional ways for people to celebrate the lives of newlyweds is through practical gifts. So, we decided to register at AMAZON.COM. Our registry is HERE. We don't actually expect people to buy us anything, but we would like to provide a guide for those who wish to do so. All of the things on the registry are things we would love to have and use. 

Wedding Nightmare

The other day I had a nightmare about my wedding. I woke up all shaken about it. I'm sure the dream has some deep psychological meanings, but really, who knows? The nightmare started like a happy dream: Alan, me and our guests were in a beautiful mansion where the wedding was to take place. Everyone was glad that the wedding day had finally arrived and everyone couldn't wait for the ceremony to get started. All of our friends and family were gathered in a main hall of the mansion for the ceremony. Everything was perfect, like a fairy tale, ready to being except for one thing: my wedding dress. My wedding dress was so special it had to be sown to my exact measurements onto my body, about half an hour before I walked down the aisle. The dress had to be sewn on me by a particular seamstress. Then, the nightmare started. My friends and I could not find a private room in which the seamstress could make my wedding dress. We kept running from room to room in the mansion, but all of the rooms had lots of windows. Paparazzi and onlookers kept gathering in the windows, leaving us with no privacy to make the special wedding dress. I remember running and running from room to room, running through the mansion's gardens to the pool house, running through all the mud in the gardens with the seamstress and some friends, looking for a room with no windows. We couldn't find one no matter how hard we tried. I just wanted some privacy! All the rooms of the mansion were super fancy, and all the rooms had tons of windows. If we stayed in any room for over a couple of minutes, nosy people and paparazzi would instantly gather to look inside. I was starting to let the seamstress sow the dress on me despite the onlookers, even though I really hated the onlookers. Eventually, as I was running with the bottom half of a luxurious wedding dress sown on,  my levels of frustration and despair rose to unbearable levels. Meanwhile, Alan and the guests were waiting in the main hall for me to appear. I was really anxious about making everyone wait for me because of the stupid dress. I was so upset, I decided that Alan would still want to marry me even though I was only wearing half a dress and my shoes were muddy from all the running, so I should better get to the ceremony instead of making everybody wait for the completion of the uncompletable task. I realized that the dress was not worth the hassle. And then I woke up.

Mid Life Crisis

I haven't reached 25 yet but I'm pretty sure I'm having a mid-life crisis. Maybe it would be more appropriate to call it a quarter-life crisis, but I'm not quite sure about what a quarter-life crisis entails… although I suspect you need to get raging drunk while you are having one and I'm not interested in getting raging drunk, so I will call this a mid-life crisis as I pensively sip on some nice single malt, aged whisky.

In essence, I want a bad-ass looking convertible. More than a want, it is a need. A need that I discovered while moving into my more conservative and economically viable apartment (read: boring, grown-up apartment). Shinny, new and fun. Yes, a convertible is what I need in order to get my mojo back from my boring work-day-in-and-day-out life. I thought a lot about convertibles over the weekend and I definitely want a hard top convertible, because they are super cool. I want a car that says: "fooled you! My hat comes off! Eat my dust as a zoom-zoom away into the distance!"

If I save my pennies, in a couple of years I might be able to actually afford a Mazda Miata MX hardtop convertible. The Miata is not as bad-ass looking as I would like, but it will work for my purposes. If I win the lottery I might get a Lexus or an Audi.

We Have Two Apartments

Ladies and Gentlemen: despite all the scams available on Craigslist, Alan and I found a new apartment. We actually found an apartment that was cheap-enough it justified moving, yet decent enough so that we were not living in a ghetto and our commute to work was not terribly elongated. Our new apartment is only about 3 miles away from where we currently live, so it will not entail that much of a life-altering change. Best of all, our new apartment has two bedrooms. TWO! Yay! One bedroom for us and one for all of our computers, bikes, books and odd nick-nacks. We signed the lease this morning, starting on 02/01/2009, and we are totally excited about moving so that we can stop paying ridiculous amounts of money on rent every month.

Moving from apartment to apartment does entail a small amount of peril though. Due to a clause in our current lease contract, we are obligated to give a 30 day notice about our intent to vacate. I had completely forgotten about this clause. This means we must continue to pay rent until February 15th, which was an unforeseen expense on my behalf. Ug. However, this inconvenient clause in our lease was somewhat offset by our new apartment. Even though we do not start paying rent until next month, our new landlord gave us permission to start moving in right away; we already have the keys... During the next 30 days Alan and I will be living-large, with an apartment to spare. Our goal is to move things from the old apartment to the new one over the course of the next four weeks. 

Scam from Reverend Sam

Alan and I have been looking for a new apartment. Our lease is up at our current location and we both feel that it is time for something new, and cheaper. I have mostly been looking on Craigslist for our new place to live. There are lots of scams on Craigslist. Here is an example of a scam email that I received today. The email was in reference to an apartment that I inquired about...

Subject: Re: $988 / 1br - 1bedroom 1bath - In Great Belmont at 2220 Lake Rd Belmont, CA 94002 (belmont)

i am so much excited. My name is Rev samuel holmes the owner of the apartment and also want you to know that it was due to my transfer that makes me and my wife and little daughter to leave the apartment and also want to give it out for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of it while we are not at the state as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own. So for now, we are here in West Africa, our new house and put all my worries off concerning the maintenance of the apartment for, since i am not residing there for now. I left behind some Facilities and electonics which include the rent, DVD player, air conditioning, alarm system. The kitchen is fully equipped with all necessary cooking utensils, refrigerator-freezer, four-hob and oven, microwave, dishwasher and washing machine, my computer connected with Internet access also the keys and document of the apartment are right here with us in West Africa, and the lease document. Which i can send to you after all necessary agreement has been accepted. Also i will like you to know that the rent charges is not really the issue, hope you are okay with the price of $988 per month including utilities like water, gas, heat laundry facilities, air condition and so on, but your absolute maintenance of my apartment is most important thing, if you are really interested in renting this apartment get back to me so that i can forward you an application form for you to fill so that i can start all necesary arrangement asap. HERE IS THE APARTMENT ADDRESS >2220 Lake Rd Belmont, CA 94002

*********RENT APPLICATION FORM********** *********PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL********** 1) Your Full Name. 2) Your Full Address3)Phone Number4) Citizen or Country ?5) How old are you ? 6) Are you married ?7) Sex ?8) How many people will be living in the apartment? 9) Do you have a pet ?10) Do you have a car ?11) What is your Occupation ?12) Short or Long Term Lease ?13) When do you intend moving in : Date ?14) When do you inted to moving out : Date ?15) Deposit : One or Two month Deposit are required16) Occupant Picture17) Reference Details Landing 33'1" x 6'10" ( 7.83m x 2.88m )Reception room 27'1" x 26'1" ( 6.28m x 5.98m )Kitchen 23'1" x 21'1" ( 4.96m x 4.45m )Bathroom 7'20" x 6'20" ( 3.18m x 2.88m )Guest WC 6'1" x 3'20" ( 2.62m x 1.96m ) I personally will actually come visiting you sometimes during the year as our new tenant. Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issueing the receipt for you and contacting you. I can be reach anytime at +2348022961927 or 0112348022961927. Awaiting your reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the keys of the apartment to you.
Thanks and God bless
RegardsRev samuel

Freckles and a Kiss

This kiss is for Alan. He is away on business at Mac World, in SF.

Now, about the freckles: I haven't taken a close-up picture of my face in quite a while. Last night, as I was playing with my new Canon 50mm, 1.8f lens, I realized that I have a lot of freckles going on. They are all over my face! All over. I did not realize the extent to which my face had become freckled and I want to make it stop. Maybe I should see a dermatologist about this. I do not think my situation is due exposure to the sun; I basically live like a vampire going from my cave at home to my cave at work, all the while covered in sunscreen.

Hummm... maybe my skin is just more delicate than what I thought it was.

GETTING MARRIED

Alan and I are getting married in exactly 140 days.

I guess it is time for me to really start freaking out about wedding stuff.
It wont be long until the Wedding-Freak is on full-blast.
I can sense these things.

Disappointments

It has taken me less than a week in 2009 to reach the following disappointments:

- I do not have time to take a yoga class this semester, which I have been wanting to do for over 3 years. THREE FREAKING YEARS. I had even picked out the class I wanted to take at the College of San Mateo, starting on 01/21/09. Sigh. At this pace I will be 50 before I have time to do the things I want to do.
- I probably will not be able to take as many MBA courses as I had originally intended this year, due to lack of funding. This will delay obtaining my MBA, which will in turn delay obtaining a better job, which currently frustrates me. (I may need to bump my yoga-possible age to 55, instead of 50.)
- I would really like to move to a cheaper apartment. However, all the cheaper apartments that I have been able to find are either tini-weeny (like, less than 600 sq.feet) or further away than what I could reasonably commute to work. I hate commuting in the bay area, do I really need to commute more in order to live in a reasonably priced 1 bedroom apartment?
- I really wish I could travel. At this point, I don't even care to which location as long as it is far, far away from California. Far, far away from my meaningless job. But I can't and this makes me sad. Very sad.
- I feel like a free soul trapped in the void of California, having my guts sucked through my eyeballs. It will not be long until all my guts are sucked away and the only thing left of me is bloodshot eyeballs, ever coveting, never knowing what to do to make the madness stop.