Day 4386

I finally got my package. It was 16 days late, but who's counting. The box looked a little worse for wear, but the contents didn't appear to be damaged. Truthfully, I never expected to see this thing. The package arrived in Texas on December 11 and has been bouncing around the Fedex system ever since. I don't think I ever would have found my shipment if an offshore call center employee hadn't eventually taken pity on me and gave me the private number of the local Fedex distribution center. I learned a few things during this never ending search. There are still a few good people in this world, but there probably aren't any good global corporations. I got nowhere until I was finally able to talk with a real person who had the ability to walk out to the loading dock and physically look for the package. Fedex did everything it could to keep me from talking to these people. The call center employees I did talk with with were just looking at numbers on a computer screen. 

The lady who handed me the package today said it would probably take all day to explain what had actually happened. She wasn't really sure herself. She did hand me a piece of paper though that showed the package had been scanned forty two times since entering the Fedex system. This thing had been everywhere except where is was actually supposed to go. 

I still think it is ironic that Fedex stock actually went up while I was looking for my lost package. The investment community apparently likes the fact that the company is investing heavily in artificial intelligence software. It was this same software that was causing all my problems. Nobody was actually looking for my package for a very long time. They were just depending on the software to get it to the right place. Eventually someone discovered that the bar code on my package had gotten damaged and wasn't giving the right results. I probably never should have requested to have my package held at a Fedex Office facility either. This particular facility had huge amounts of outgoing traffic and very little incoming. I think my package actually was delivered to this location at some point, but it just got lost in the Christmas rush and was returned to the distribution center. I don't know why I was in such a hurry to get this little star tracker. Light pollution is so bad in Dallas that I probably won't be able to use it until I get a chance to go back to McDonald Observatory again.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I did a lot of walking and had another 24,000 step day. I don't think the long walks really prove anything. They take my mind off the worries of the world though. If my feet didn't hurt, I would probably walk a lot further. I was surprised when I noticed that all the Pelicans had disappeared today. Where did they go? There are hundreds of White Pelicans that spend the Winter on our lake, but they were nowhere to be found. One more animal mystery. 

Someone in one of the astrophotography groups I subscribe to wanted to start a discussion about self defense and personal safety. A lot of people got angry and told the guy that this was off topic because this was a group about astronomy. A lively back and forth ensued and I was a bit surprised to learn that I wasn't the only one who didn't feel safe taking a telescope outside at night in a city. Several people in other countries said that their equipment would immediately be stolen if they tried to set it up in a public park. It's a shame we've come to this. We really aren't that far away from Mad Max at Thunderdome.

The year is swiftly drawing to a close. I really hope that next year will be an improvement. Even a small improvement would be welcome. Any way you look at it, 2020 and 2021 sucked.

Taylor is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day