Shipping And Handling

I’m still waiting for my new Apple Watch band to arrive; apparently the USPS is having some problems and packages are backed up nation-wide.

The website says it’s still on a truck somewhere between Minnesota and Denver, even though the artisan who made the band shipped it on the 6th… So much for paying for 2-day delivery.

From what I’ve been reading on sites like Esty, where lots of artisans are having the same issue getting products to purchasers, I’ll be lucky if I see it before Christmas.

Then there’s FedEx, who tends to always be a day or two later than they estimate (because it takes time to mangle the package or something). They also like to leave things at my visible to the world garage door (where if I didn’t have a backup camera I’d run over the package) versus the secluded and covered front porch — because that would require a dozen more steps I guess. This is how the case for my MacBook Air arrived; fortunately the case was fine even if the box looked like it was delivered via WWII.

UPS on the other hand is super professional, doesn’t load their trucks via trebuchet, delivers on time (usually within a three hour window even), and has no issue putting the package on the porch.

Which leads to the next thing UPS will be delivering to me…

Back in May of 2018 I paid into an Indigogo campaign for a bit of reimagined retro wizardry; the Atari VCS.

Atari and I go way back… The family had an original PONG machine in ’76, then a four-switch 2600 sat on top of the living room TV back in ’80. I still recall coming home from school to my mother playing breakout, which was so incongruous for my totally non-technical mother that it sticks with me to this day.

In 1986 I got an Atari 800XL, and used that machine until I picked up the Amiga 500 in ’89 after making the really hard decision between it and an Atari 520ST.

Here we are a couple of decades later and Atari has re-embraced their console roots with the new VCS — and I joined them in the name of 80’s memories.

Initially the new VCS was supposed to be delivered July 2019, then October 2020 — which came and went with louder portions of the Internet proclaiming that the new VCS would never amount to anything but cash-grab vaporware.

Much to their chagrin I’m sure, my “collector’s edition” VCS, two classic joysticks, and two modern controllers shipped yesterday and UPS is telling me it’ll arrive Friday at around 5pm.

I’ll be sure to post some pictures and my thoughts on the thing next weekend — shipping willing. 🙂