Embracing the D70

My new camera is here. The battery is charging.

Tonight I discovered that I'm not all that fond of UPS. They made it very hard to just pick up my damned package.

I've been anxious to receive my camera. I paid $30 to ship it, and it's been two weeks. Some of this is the ebay seller's fault, some of it is UPS. For example, the UPS tracking site has not been updated since March 24, when it was in Brooklyn. Today is the 30th. There was finally an update to tell me they'd attempted delivery, found no one home at 2:50pm and took it away. I remembered that I used to be able to pick up the package at their customer center, but that wasn't documented.

I checked the website to see when the local customer center closed. It said 6pm. So I drove home, got my slip, and drove to the center. The clerk said, "Oh. No. You can't pick it up. You have to call our 1-800 number and schedule pick up through them. Then you can come back between 6:30 and 8pm." It was 5:30.

So I walked outside and called the 1-800 number from my cell phone. After a two-minute spiel about how I could use their website to accomplish the same thing, and aren't I a lazy Luddite for wanting to talk to a person?, a woman answered. She gave me every option but pick up.

I said, "The clerk told me I could pick it up at 6:30."
She sighed and took my information. "Someone will call you within the hour to tell you when to pick it up."
"But," I said, "the clerk already told me when I could pick it up."
"Someone will call you," she said.

About fifteen minutes later, the same clerk I'd already talked to called me back. He said, "Between 6:30 and 8."

BF and I went to Costco and ate dinner. I bought a CompactFlash card and a twin-pack of Camisoles, because it makes me feel Victorian-like. I think Luddites must like Camisoles.

At 7pm, I went to pick up the camera, fully expecting trouble. Thankfully, I had no trouble. I walked in, the clerk punched some buttons on his speak-and-spell and I left with a slightly bedraggled (not bedazzled) cardboard box. Signing of my name was involved.

The camera is pretty. It came with the world's smallest tripod, and a lens cleaning kit. I cleaned my lenses for fun, but it didn't work out all that great. The battery takes two hours to charge, so I'm sitting here waiting. Twiddling my thumbs. Thinking about going to sleep.

I have a half hour until it finishes charging. Maybe I'll lean back in my chair here, and rest my eyes. This room is awful bright. A cat nap never hurt anybody.