still no harry potter book :-(

Still no Harry Potter book.

I was unable to find a phone number for Amazon, so used their Feedback form. (Yeah, I know...what are the chances they'll actually read it?)

I phoned Canada Post and found out from the package tracking service that my package was shipped today. I waited to speak to an actual human being to find out what was going on. As soon as I mentioned "Harry Potter", the Canada Post employee laughed. I asked why. He told me it was because he had already received a bunch of calls from customers that morning about their Harry Potter books.

I told him that I had received e-mail from Amazon assuring me that my book was shipped last Friday. He gave a rather long and rambling explanation that made no sense meant to explain why my book wasn't shipped until today, something to do with too many books to be shipped and not enough trucks.

!!!???

I pointed out that at least one person in my condo building had already received their Harry Potter book. He paused, then admitted that there had been some problem with my particular shipment and he didn't know why, but quickly went on to say that I "was one of the lucky ones" because I would receive my book later today while others whose books hadn't been shipped would have to wait until tomorrow. Then he laughed again (a bit more nervously) and said that he could understand why everyone was so excited about the new Harry Potter because it was a very good book.

I was tempted to say, I WOULDN'T KNOW SINCE I HAVEN'T RECEIVED MINE YET but I didn't. Yes, I regret that now.

Sum of my experience so far:

Despite the hefty 40% discount (which was what tempted me in the first place), I will never order another Harry Potter book from Amazon again, or any other book that I am desperate to get in a timely fashion.

I was not impressed by the response from the Canada Post employee, who seemed to think the whole thing was a big joke.

I will wait until the end of today to see if I get any response from Amazon. I'm especially interested in hearing why they told me the book had shipped when it hadn't. Also interested if my Harry Potter book does actually arrive today.

Meanwhile, here's a pic that Craig sent me of our friend Doug (the one who got married yesterday) from the Mississauga Times in 1986. Yes, he actually did pose for this :-D ...

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Doug and Jen get married

Back from the cottage. Packed up quickly in the morning, dropped off our nieces at their house, dropped by our new house for five minutes (WHICH LOOKED AMAZING! MORE ON THIS SOON!), drove back downtown to my mom-in-law's condo, dumped our two weeks' worth of cottage gear, quickly showered and changed, headed off to the wedding of our friends, Doug and Jen.



My Harry Potter book did NOT arrive yesterday from Amazon.ca despite the fact that other residents in the building received their copies on time. Serves me right for trusting in Amazon's and Canada Post's claim that all books would be delivered yesterday. Canada Post's delivery service doesn't even recognize the package tracking number in Amazon.ca's automatic e-mail notification, so I have no idea whether my book WILL be delivered or not.

Grmbl. I'm going to wait to see if the book is delivered on Monday, but also plan to contact Amazon's and Canada Post's customer service departments. I'll let you know what happens.

Meanwhile, here are some pics from the wedding yesterday (you can see other pics here). Congrats, Jen and Doug! Everything went smoothly despite the minister not showing up on time (!); fortunately a minister friend of Doug's was able to perform the ceremony.

Six days until we spend our first night in our new house.

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harry potter anticipation

Check out the peanut art above, by my sister last week. It was demolished by several squirrels and chipmunks within minutes, of course. :-) The squirrel is holding a marshmallow on a stick.

Only TWO DAYS until the new Harry Potter book arrives in our mailbox. I am *so* hyped. My fingers are itching; I hope it's another honkin' huge book. Jeff is prepared to be ignored for a while. Fortunately he's not as enthusiastic about the whole Harry Potter thing as I am, else we'd have to order two copies like my sister did for her household.

I won't be able to attend the Midnight Madness launch at our local Indigo-Chapters this time, sadly, so opted for ordering through Amazon.ca instead. I finished rereading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last week in anticipation. I remember lining up for the book last time; there was a boy dressed up like Harry Potter standing behind me, and we all got goody bags. I gave mine to my nieces (who are also, of course, equally excited about the newest book).

Thanks to Walter and Trish for watering our garden and updating us on renovation progress while we were at the cottage. Looks like renovations will be finished on time; the carpet goes in today!

NINE DAYS until we spend the first night in our new house.

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cottage heat

The temperature above was taken IN THE SHADE. Jeff moved to into the sun so I could get a clearer photo, and the temperature climbed several degrees.

It is WAY too hot to type anything else right now.

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insect survey

I'm starting to work on some tree sketches in preparation for my office tree painting. I've never really drawn trees before, so I figure it would probably be a good thing to practise first. I'm also aware that I'll be using pretty inexpensive acrylics that will be fairly thick and not as easy to mix as high-quality paints, so that will be an interesting (but fun) challenge. The sketch above was done in Corel Painter 8 with the Thick Acrylics brush, based on a tree that Jeff and I saw on Molly's Island. Not exactly sure what kind of tree this is, sorry.

Many thanks to our friend Walter for watering our garden and sending us photos of renovation progress during our cottage stay. I am SO hyped about finally being able to move in in a couple weeks. Our tentative official move-in date is Saturday, July 23rd...FOURTEEN MORE DAYS!

A few days ago, I got a mosquito bite on my left eyelid. I had slathered insect repellant on almost every other square inch, but the little bugger got through my defenses. The following morning, I woke up looking like Bill the Cat and unable to see out of my left eye. Ugh. Swelling seems have finally disappeared today.

I generally don't mind insects, though I make exceptions for the ones that want a piece of me (deerflies, mosquitoes, no-see-ums, etc.). The mosquito is definitely on my "kill without a qualm of guilt" list. My favourite insect is the dragonfly, partly because it eats mosquitoes but also because of its fragility and the colour-shimmer of its wings in the sunlight. When one lands on me while I'm swimming, I'll tread water and try not to dislodge it so I can watch it up close.

INSECT SURVEY:

What's your favourite insect?
What's your least favourite insect?
If you find a spider inside the house, do you squish it or carry it outside?
If you find a wasp inside the house, do you squish it or carry it outside?

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