• "Yeah, right. You were dreaming!"
• Heard of "sleep paralysis"?
• The cellphone entered some sort of diagnostic mode, for software updates and the sort, at a period of least / low network congestion and/or device usage. During the time of software update delivery, it somehow turned into a beacon for conversations on the same network / frequency, and it was this chatter that made it out through the cellphone's speaker. Since it was silent all around in the night, it seemed louder than intended.

Naturally, the last explanation seems the most "scientific", although I will admit it was completely made up at the time.

On the night of December 31, I had the same phone on the nightstand next to me - and I heard the same thing. I wasn't entirely "asleep", and no - it wasn't a post-party, alcohol-powered haze. Sometimes, being the tetotaller geek who doesn't always party on New Year's Eve is a good thing.

Yes, I heard it. A conversation, around 11:30 PM, almost loud and clear at that time of the night, from the cellphone's internal speaker. Possibly intelligible if I had craned my neck closer to the device. I have no idea why I didn't. I think I was trying to verify that I wasn't dreaming by looking around and the sort. About fifteen seconds later, it died out.

Lets recap. I heard it. I wasn't asleep. I wasn't dreaming. I hadn't a drink in me, and I wasn't tired. All the power outages in the area we were in, earlier that day, had ensured a lot of "enforced napping" throughout the daylight hours.

So..there was some truth to this after all. And I majored in telecom engineering. I had to dig deeper.

A few nights later, I set up my little experiment. I put the (same) cellphone down on a level surface, and pointed a fairly sensitive microphone right at it, for about nine hours of the night.

Yeah, nine hours - we sleep a lot. Whaddyagonnado?

The resulting recorded waveforms were interesting, to say the least. I've posted a couple of pictures to show my "setup" and a screenshot of the 9-hour recording (amplified, but not edited in any other way) below. More research coming up...

• Crystal material: synthetic-sapphire
• Clasp: deployment-buckle
• Care material: stainless-steel
• Band material: stainless-steel
• Band length: unisex
• Dial color: black
• Bezel material: stainless-steel
• Movement: automatic movement
• Water resistant depth: 30.00 meters

• Its all stainless steel
• The crystal is a synthetic sapphire
• There's no mention of rare earth metals like gold or platinum
• There's no mention of cosmetic diamonds

I figured I was missing something, so I headed over the Breitling website and checked their "Made by Breitling" section to check if, y'know, the watch was made using alien technology or if it came with a free car and a down payment on a villa in Maine...

After sitting through a lot of Flash-enabled storytelling, I came away unimpressed. I'm sure they're made really, really well - but nothing really made me go "Wow..".

So, I checked the product description again, and saw that it said - "...and is capable of performing all calculations a flight plan requires". Oh, c'mon!!!

Alright, I've reined in the sarcastoric (Sujeetism; sarcasm + rhetoric)  long enough. Here goes everything:

• Its stainless steel! No gold, platinum, diamonds or "jewels" whatsoever.
  
• In spite of all their claimed effort at making a dial, I think I would probably take more than a glance to read time off that watch face
  
• Its water resistant only up to 30 meters. That's about 98.5 feet or about 16.5 fathoms. If you're that far below, and if your hand is exposed to the water and the pressure unprotected, you've got a lot more to worry about than being able to see the right time.
  
• Its water resistant up to 30 meters, but the description doesn't speak to any backlight or electroluminiscence. Do they think the Sun shines bright that far below?
  
• It claims being able to do everything towards calculating a flight plan. Thus, shouldn't it have an altimeter / barometer instead of being water-resistant upto 30 meters?
  
• If its for the "pilot", why doesn't the product description talk about multiple time zones? The last time I checked, the country had, like, six.  Eight, if you're really a stickler for details. At $100K, you better be.

And the glaringly obvious:

• If you had over $100K (forget about tax and shipping?) to spend on a watch, would you buy it off Amazon?!
  
• If you had over $100K to spend on a watch that claimed to do "all the calculations necessary for a flight plan", would you ever really use it for a flight plan? With that much disposable dough, I imagine its fair to assume that you spent a lot more on a state-of-the-art Learjet that came with a pilot and all the instrumentation necessary for multiple realtime satellite video feeds...and ESPN, too
  
• If you had over $100K to spend on a watch, would it really be one was "unisex" and made of "stainless steel"?
  
• How come the page doesn't say "free shipping"?

• Why?
• How?

For anyone to commit themselves to a task that they didn't think of themselves takes some assured incentive and/or proven results. What would possibly convince a Pharaoh to commission a monstrous investment of personal wealth and mammoth amounts of human labor towards a task that would not be complete in his / her lifetime?

Proven results? That would mean mummified / embalmed dead people were actually revived in the Pharaoh's presence. If so...by whom? Assured incentive? That would mean someone was either holding the proverbial gun to the Pharaoh's head and/or some other method of coercion; or perhaps there was some other convincing case made for "the afterlife".

All in all, they built oddly-shaped gravestones with mathematical accuracy and constructional genius that would be hard to replicate today, apparently using resource finesse that's a far cry from what's on tap today.

I don't know how everyone else has bought the idea, but it would take a lot for me to be convinced about the overall premise that entire generations of workers spent years chiseling down huge stones to dimensions and hauled them up so that they fit just right, without any mortar or other cementing material. Ditto for the exavacation of the land underneath and the seismic studies required towards that act. I can't see how apparently backward technology can pull off something like this and still be termed "backward".

Who said anything about "backward"? They were probably far advanced than we are today. The technology just got lost / destroyed over time.

So...lemme get this straight. In a time where they wrote stuff on parchment and chiseled drawings on stones (like, all the time - based on the numerous archealogical finds in that area),  why isn't there a single account of how they built the pyramids..anywhere? No cave walls with instructions, no loose "tablets" with orders for a group of people to work off, nothing. How did the "foremen" communicate with their "workers"? How did they discuss what's right and what's wrong? Didn't they have any rolled-up scraps (stones) that constituted "drafts"? Paper degrades, stones don't. Where's the dumpster for all this stuff?

Its like a forensically sound clean-up. Which naturally begs the question...why? And by whom?

My conjecture about all this leads to the obvious rhetoric about aliens...which is usually met with "Time to go! Thanks for sharing, Sujeet" and a lot of snickering and incredulous looks.

To all those, try this on for size...

Authoritative sources, both on cartography and carbon-dating, have publicly released a document that is a crude map of the entire planet, whose creation date is 1434 AD.

Lets dissect that - This is a map, of the planet, made in 1434 AD.

• One can't see the spread of the forest from the trees. One has to get high up. Lets assume that this "high up" was a person, or a set of people, climbing to the top of a mountain and sketching what they saw underneath.
  
  
• However, one can't see the entire planet, even from the top of Mt. Everest - which one can't climb without artifical pressurization and breathing apparatus that wasn't invented until a lot later. Ergo, lets assume that a lot of people got up on a lot of smaller mountains and sketched what they saw underneath.
  
  
• If so, we've got most land masses covered. I still don't see how one can even hope to be accurate with this method, but what they didn't know probably didn't hurt them.
  
  
• Today, if there's one person on the Internet doing something that he / she want's help with, he / she uses a search engine. How does one set of people sketching stuff on a hill in 1434 do the same to find / encourage people at other locations, that they do not know to truly exist, to undertake the same exercise?
  
  
• Even if they used carrier pigeons and the sort to aggregate their efforts into one summarized drawing - how do they know the approximate locations of the continents on the map?
  
  
• And even if they guesstimated all of the above - why is anyone drawing a map in a world before the existence of any invention that could lead to world travel? In the absence of GPS or even the basic compass - how would anyone know where they were going, even if they were to set out on a journey?
  
  
  And more to the point - what would lead anyone to start on a journey in the first place? Why does anyone have to be convinced that "there is a whole world out there" if there are no visitors, no means of external communication and nothing to indicate the presence of anything other than what they can see and hear ona  daily basis in their existing surroundings?

I can see why a world map drawn up in 1434 is currently valued at $20 million (although that does beg the question if it would really be sold if someone came up with the money. Why put a price on things that will / should never be removed from public academia? Just call it "priceless" and leave it at that!). However, something like this makes me wonder about the same two questions that I think when I hear about the pyramid.. 

• Why?
• How?

• Home-made RFID tags that could be inconspicously pasted onto anything and that use solar power for any miniscule power requirements that they may have. Essentially, an RFID strip alongside a solar power panel strip. That's all.
• Something like a Loc8Tor handheld unit to "see" what's where and indicate it on a clear direction-oriented display

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? I hope it is. Yet another idea that I hereby toss out into the sea of thinkers and doers that some call the Internet, and others call "patent wars".

1. Priced just over the $100 mark.
2. Reads SD and CF cards. That pretty much covers 90% of the digital camera market.
3. No subscription of any kind required for us, unless one counts its cable-TV-friendliness
4. Comes with a cable TV tuner, an off-air TV tuner, an auxillary RCA input trio, and...
5. The RCA video input is an input / output selector switch. Meaning, you could be watching your digital pictures on this screen and opt to send the feed to a larger screen as well.
6. Good sound, for such a small package
7. Not heavy, not light
8. Comes with a rechargeable and removable base
9. On-board controls, on-remote controls
10. Allows digital pictures to be rotated and zoomed into
11. Allows slideshows
12. Plays AVI (video) files

So, its a digital photo frame, a TV, an "additional / replacement" monitor for pretty much any video source you've got - from a PlayStation to a DVD player; and it comes with a rechargeable battery in a swivel base. Which means, it can do all it can do without needing to be tethered to either a power socket or a network connection of any kind.

What's not to like?!

That was rhetoric, but let me answer anyway. This device was meant to be an 8-inch LCD TV that could read digital photos and video off flash memory cards. It wasn't meant to be an elegant, art-deco-chic digital frame like the Ceiva or like its rich cousin at Sharper Image. Thus, while I like its looks - it probably isn't something you could hang on your walls and expect to blend in with the rest of your mahogany furniture and Corinthian drapes. For that, you'll have to figure out a way to slap on a perimeter wood frame or the sort. Which, as I see it - shouldn't be too hard.

• "SujEats"?!!
  
  A play on my name, with a reference to food, alluding to eating out and reviews of the same
  
  
• "SujEats"???!!!
  
  Gotta spell it out, do I? Here's how it works:
  
  
• There's this site called "Frappr"
• It lets people indicate "groups" on a map
• I believe it was originally intended to be used as a social geographic bookmarking service
• I'm using it as a way to put tacks on a map to indicate the places I've eaten and what I think about them
• It uses the familiar Google Maps interface / engine, and lets me include a small review and a picture
  
  
  
  
  Given the short and graphics-friendly attention span of the average Internet user (I'm no different!), a quick restaurant review with a picture on a map would give me the following bits of information:
  
  
• Where it is, with respect to me
• Directions to get there
• A short review from someone who's been there
• A small picture by that same person who's been there, which could give me a hint regarding the overall ambience of the place
  
  
  When I'm hungry and looking for a quick restaurant recommendation, that's pretty much all I would look for. Ergo, that's exactly what "SujEats" provides.

• Why?
  
  Cameraphones do moblogs. Moblogs and Google Maps are a great alliance for quick-and-easy restaurant reviews, but I prefer tacks on a map. I did the moblog bit, and still do - but I prefer this approach. And so does pretty much everyone who's spared it a few moments...
  
  
• That's cool - but why are you (Sujeet) doing this?
  
  Standard answer: "Because I can"
  
  Relevant answer: "Because this is one of the few ways in which I can participate in the free and open sharing fabric of the Internet. There are only so many personal-and-fun cameraphone pictures one can take and upload. Making some good use of all the technology that's on offer today, a.k.a. cameraphones, moblogs, online mapping utilities, etc. - in an effort to return value to the community seemed like a good way to 'give back', in a matter of speaking."
  
  
• Too much time, as usual?
  
  Oh, shut up. You know you like it. I give it six months before I've got that entire map area peppered with map tags and photos and reviews. Lets talk "time" after.
  
  
• Anything else?
  
  Yeah. If you and I went someplace and you don't see it tacked up on the map yet, you could add whatever you like without me doing anything. You could add a picture and a review and pretty much anything else you wanted.
  
  
• And the downside is...?
  
  The ad banners at Frappr aren't exactly the best I've seen, but hey - its free.
  
  
• What's with the "Shoutouts" and the slideshow scripts?
  
  Like I said, Frappr is supposed to be a social / geographical bookmarking service, thus the "Shoutout" feature when someone adds themselves to your group and gives a shout out to the rest of the group to announce their arrival.
  
  The slideshow script is interesting, and I'll be incorporating it into one of the panels at http://whatsup.sujeet.net sometime soon.
  

So, once again - http://www.frappr.com/sujeats

• Everyone other than the user posting the content makes money
• Its is the user's content that makes everyone money, other than the user

• A flurry of comments associated with that post
• Reassuringly large numbers in the visitor counter
• Email / feedback expressing interest / gratitude (rare, but its known to happen)

• Free blog services should define a reasonably large number of unique hits associated with every blog / every blog post, as a "payout threshold"
• Beyond the threshold, every hit, or block of 100-or-so hits, should earn the associated post owner some money

• Creating a "newspaper" of sorts, completely out of freely-available RSS feeds, from multiple updated news sources
• Creating a photo-gallery of sorts, from similar feeds off photo-sharing websites. It could get really interesting if I set it to fetch all photos tagged with "Halloween" around the end of October, "Thanksgiving" around the end of November, and Christmas around the end of December.

1. Configure their RSS subscriptions so that readers can get ONLY the first so-many characters
2. Configure their RSS generators so that ads are inserted randomly and frequently, as an intermediate clickthrough before the readers gets to the "full story".

1. Have you moved your blog from where it was previously?
   
   No. I did the interface equivalent of a snake shedding its old skin.
   
   
2. What?
   
   Translated out of metaphysical geekspeak (I flatter myself), I conjured up a new interface and figured out a way to ship my existing content from where it was to where it is.
   
   
3. What?!!
   
   Oh, nevermind.
   
   
4. What's with the weather icons on the side? You a weatherman now?
   
   And if I was, would you like me less?
   
   
5. No, seriously...
   
   Just a few self-refreshing weather icons that show a quick and easy snapshot of my stomping grounds.
   
   
6. What's a "moblog"?
   
   A blog could be loosely described as an Internet-accessible variant of the diary concept. Using pictures to write that diary would be loosely describing a "moblog". Its all very loose.
   
   
7. The old interface allowed me to comment. This doesn't. Scared?
   
   Yeah. Especially of what you could write.
   
   
8. Seriously?
   
   You wish. The method I'm using to move content from one place to another doesn't allow me to fetch and embed a link for the comments' feature. You could, however, click on the title of the blog post that you wish to comment on and be routed to the corresponding entry on the "old" blog interface that will let you add comments as before.
   
   
9. But..didn't you just say that comments wouldn't be fetched? That would mean comments entered via the old interface would never show up on this new interface!
   
   You catch on quick. However, I've heard that most "feeds" like this are going to be updated shortly so that comments will be a part of the fetch.
   
   In short, you're right - for now. That may change over time. And in any case, the last nine months elicited less than nine comments in total - so, I'm not really worried about "losing touch with my readers"!
   
   
10. That could also mean your blog posts weren't interesting enough...
    
    True.
    
    
11. You're doing a fairly good job of this Q&A. Been checked for schizophrenia lately?
    
    No, but I have lengthy arguments on that subject with the guy in the bathroom mirror.
    
    
12. So, in short...
    
    Click the blog titles to go to the old interface and leave comments.
    
    The Photo Albums on the old interface and the lists et al will continue to be updated, and I'll try moving most of everything to this interface as much as, and as quickly as possible.
    
    
13. And all this for...
    
    Proving that it can be done.
    
    Saving you from ads and MSN promos that I don't care for.
    
    Making a free service even more free than it already is.
    
    Getting some RSSexperience, um, experience with RSS. Also to get exactly what you just read into various Googlebots so that it gets more people searching for the wrong keyword to the right place.
    
    
14. I'm bored already.
    
    That makes two of us. Later!

 Hey! Wait! There's a cookie on my computer. What's with that? Are you tracking me?!!

Yes, but I'm not sending you that cookie. Its from the site that hosts the moblog. Block it if you like. Allowing it won't do anything harmful / invasive, either. Its your cookie...or call.

1. Takes longer than a second to load = "The website is slow"
2. Takes longer than two "full" seconds to load = "The website is really slow!"
3. Pop-up ads = "I hate ads!"
4. Too much text = "Too boring"
5. Photos = "Hm..interesting"
6. The absence of any links = "Boring"
7. Too many subjects covered on a single page = "Boring"
8. More than two subjects addressed on a single page = "Boring"
9. Text not wrapping right, browser-related font trouble = "What is this?"
10. "Hit the monkey" ads = "That's funny". I've seen a good percentage of people actually try it!

So, if I'm somewhere close to reality with the above list; the summary is:

Have pictures, don't have too much text, ensure cross-browser compatibility, don't have pop-up ads and host it on a really fast server.

Yeah, right.

But perhaps its not as overstated as it may seem. Think back to your first look at this page. What did you look at first? I'm guessing the headline of the first post and then the graphics on the panels to the side. The photo thumbnails probably caught your eye and its probably safe to assume that checking out blog content was among the last things you did before closing the window and/or moving onto checking your email for the gazillionth time today.

Ergo, cooking up a page template for a blog interface is a lot easier said than done, especially when one doesn't have the luxury of predefined templates and images and/or when one voluntarily opts to re-create the blog interface using sticks and glue like yours truly.

Faced with these interesting bits of half knowledge and somewhat-substantiated conjecture, I let inspiration come in through the window.  With Falloween showing itself through pumpkin patches springing up everywhere and the rustle of dry leaves on the sidewalk, I figured I'd try the "pumpkiny" approach.

• Is this yet another article on "beating the sleep habit"?
  
  No.
  
  
• What is it, then?
  
  An inference and a hypothesis coming together into a suggestion that will let you get out of bed at the time you want.
  
  
• And the caveat is...?
  
  Its been working well for me. However, we're all unique - I'm told.
  
  
• A sales pitch for another clock radio?
  
  No. I'm sure you've accumulated more than a couple of those so far. And I'm assuming you're reading this because you're not entirely convinced they work reliably in getting you out of bed.
  
  
• A sales pitch for a whiz-bang overpriced gadget that does something new and "interesting"?
  
  Interestingly enough, no. The "gadget" that you'll be using, if you agree with this "tutorial", has been around for ages and then some, has multiple uses and is available in most hardware stores for about $5.
  
  
• $5...?
  
  Yeah. And you'll need a portable heater, too.
  
  
• A-ha! And that is for...?
  
  Use anything you've got. If not, buy the smallest and cheapest you can find. I've got some links further below that could help finding you a good deal.
  
  
• And is this something you're selling?
  
  No. Its something I'm telling you about, not selling. Read it to the end, buy whatever you think will work best and put it to the test. I'm all ears for your stories after.
  
  
• Once again, will this help me fall asleep quicker?
  
  Once again - no. This is intended to help wake you and get you out of bed easier.
  
  
  
• Alright, I'm interested...
  
  I figured as much. Read on.
  
  

Winter mornings tend to be cooler than the nights immediately preceding them. The onset of dawn on a winter morning seems to do something magical to the mercury just before the Sun comes out, making it dip lower and making your existence under the bedcovers a lot more comfortable than the thought of stepping out of them.


Ergo, frosty mornings tend to have the infamous few words slip out as soon as the alarm does its things - "Just a few more minutes...". Those, as most experiences go - lead to rushed hairdos, unmatched sock, missing the morning coffee, road rage and the inevitable late entrance at work earning you the raised eyebrow from the boss who just happens to saunter by at the precise moment you wheeze into your office.

Sound familiar? If you're nodding in agreement, here's what you'll need to rig up a simple solution:

• An appliance timer. These gadgets usually go for under $5 at your local hardware store / pharmacy - and go by monikers ranging from "light timers" to "ant-burglar timers". If the latter seems overkill, its because they try to market these timers as a way to fool potential burglars into thinking that you're home by having your porch lights, indoor lights turn on and off at present or randomized intervals.
  
  
• A portable heater of the electric variety. These could go from under $10 all the way up to about $50. Some are the "space heater" variety. Some are "convection". Some are really small and some are boxy. You could pick anything you like, as long as you can:
  
  
• Place it at a safe distance away from your bed / surrounding flammable material, in accordance with the safety instructions on the heater's label or instruction manual.
  
• Place it facing you while sleep.
  
• Plug it in. Its of no help if it doesn't work!
  

For those who "got it" by reading the above - yeah - it is really that simple. For those who didn't, read on.

1. Set the light timer to start at a time 15 / 30 minutes before you intended wake time and/or the time your alarm goes off.
   
2. Ensure that you've set the correct time in the timer. This is critical to having everything work right. Don't blame this setup (and me) for not getting you out of bed if you don't set your timer to the correct time.
   
3. Plug your heater into the timer. Again, ensure that you've placed the heater in accordance with its safety instructions.
   
4. Set the light timer to turn off within about 15 / 30 minutes after you intend to get out of bed. In effect, you will be turning your portable heater on for only an hour. The electricity bill isn't funny during wintertime.
   
5. Do not change any existing settings, either on your home temperature control system and/or your existing alarm clocks.
   

The purpose of this setup is to make you uncomfortable around your intended wake time. Alarm clocks, even when they ramp up from silence - and even when they're playing your favorite song - tend to do this in a way that's quite jarring on the average ear; thereby attracting the slam on the snooze button.

So, the way this will work is - the heater will start a short while before your intended wake time, and the additional / unexpected heat will make you uncomfortable under the covers. This heat will also ensure that the room and the surrounding area is comfortable enough so that the thought of getting out of bed doesn't involve a frantic rush for the robe and the slippers.

As the "comfortable discomfort", a.k.a. the heat from the heater continues to nudge you from dreamland - there will arrive a moment at which your existing alarm clock will do its thing. However, instead of the usual action of digging deeper into the covers, you will find that you will actually find yourself motivated to get out of bed.

And that's all there is to it, isn't it?

The heater I use has a little footlight on it that helps, too. When the timer turns it on, the footlight goes on as well, and the light helps in the "comfortable discomfort"  process because it isn't too bright and at floor-level.

Before you go off and try this on your own, here's a few things you should know:

• Please place the eletric heater far away from your bed. Aside from a safety requirement, it'll also ensure that you actually get out of bed to turn it off / hit the override switch on the timer.
  
• If you dig deeper into the covers in spite of all this, you may end up with sweaty covers. And those can get to be quite "interesting" after a few nights.
  
• I would recommend a heater with some sort of a light on it. Heater grills are not visible in the dark and can be quite nasty on the disoriented foot if you're fumbling around in the dark.
  
• Most timers will support the average heater. Check the wattage limits anyway.
  
• The spouse / significant other / bunkmate may disapprove of the slightly-loud "click" that the timer makes when it turns on and off, and the uncomfortable heat in the morning hour - if they're not on the same timetable as you.
  
• Again, and I can't stress on this enough - please keep the heater away from yourself, your bed, the covers and anything that isn't suspectible to heat damage / catching fire.
  

Alright, now for those links to good deals on the hardware you'll need (if you don't have it already):

• A $3.50 appliance timer from Orchard Supply Hardware (Search for 2400695 if the link doesn't work)
  
• A $32 portable heater from the same place (Search for 6529580 if the link doesn't work)
  
• A Froogle pick for "portable heater" under $25

Hope this helps. If it works, do send me a note. And once again - please follow the safety instructions for the heater's usage.

• A paper presented back in October 2003 about a "Google filesystem"
• A TV show available in its entirety off the Google Video Search service
• A "secret" meeting organized by Google
• A thousand-fold increase in their search index capability, as of today

The likes of Comcast, SBC, Verizon and AT&T have tried long and hard to sell convergence through a bundled service trio of the telephone, the Internet and the TV - and they're still trying to make headway up that ladder. Google's got a quarter million square foot in a facility known for telecom server clusters, Google Talk, Google Video, the Google Desktop "bar" and the allegedly planned nationwide Google wireless network - aside from the ubiquitous Google search engine - all of which are being lapped up by the freebie-loving digerati all over the planet.

Their filesystem paper is food for thought regarding a future OS release, and all their dark fiber transactions have also been thought of by many as a means to create a huge nationwide wired network that could parallel the entire Internet presence in the country.

Seriously...still no antitrust / unfair industry monopoly lawsuit?!! Perhaps we aren't really as lawsuit-happy as everyone makes us out to be. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps its all that and then some. Perhaps I'm right and people don't care as long as they can search the Internet for free.

Perhaps.

• The package would be delivered sometime today
• The automated notification was incorrect
• They had a lot of freight to deliver and were thus backlogged
• An automated notification would NOT be generated whenever the package was delivered, for real

This prompted me to check the DHL website for tracking information again, and it turned out that the "signed for" column was filled in with "OUT W/DRVR".

It gets worse. There was a "What is this?" link next to the "signed for" column that I expected to get some additional information from. Nada. The pop-up page listed a lot of codes, none of which was "OUT W/DRVR".

Alright, so;

• They don't deliver on time
• Their automated notification system is flawed
• Their local delivery facilities do not read messages entered into the system by their own customer service representatives
• They have "signed for" codes in their tracking details that are not explained by their own system
• They apparently let the driver "sign for" the package
• This is the second time they have done this, in my experience
• San Jose isn't exactly the "boonies" for them to be disregarding. There's a reason its called the "Capital of Silicon Valley". I don't think its a stretch to expect that they would want to look their best in this market for the most repeat business.
• They're two years old now. I don't think they deserve the "they're new" slack anymore

And this time, it isn't just about the "inconvenience" of having to wait for, and to follow up on, the delivery of a package just because one is eager to receive it. There's a $50 rebate that needs to go out ASAP, that I could send out only after I get the darn UPC from the box that's yet to be delivered!

Update:

September 23, 2005: Came home around 6 PM to find that it still wasn't delivered. Several deep breaths later, I called their customer service and was told, yet again, that it would be delivered the next morning.

What happened next could only be summarized as a "severely opinionated, fact-fortified, stream of rhetoric". However, it worked. After about five minutes on hold, I heard the customer service rep tell me that my package was on its way over in 25 minutes.

This was after I was initially told that the local sorting office was closed at 5 PM. A DHL lady came over with the package around 7-ish PM.

End of story.