Friday, February 15, 2008

total randomosity

*First up, a few words on the book I finished last night. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. I have to say it just didn't do much for me. I'm one of those who loved Judy Blume as a kid, but I honestly have no idea if I read this all those many years ago or not. It seemed to me that this book was written in such a simplified manner that it was almost insulting to kids. However, that being said, I still have to admit that Gray really enjoyed it. There were some very humorous moments scattered throughout the book. And I believe a lot of the appeal for Gray was the fact that he could relate so well to the main character and his never-ending troubles with a little brother. In Max's defense though, let me say, that he has never eaten one of his brother's pets. :)

(This was February's read for Becky's Celebrate the Author Reading Challenge.)

*My sweet husband. Rich and I get the kids a few small gifts for Valentines Day, but we decided long ago that we didn't need to be buying each other anything. We have a few little traditions around here...I make chocolate dipped strawberries each year for breakfast and I make the kids heart-shaped M&M pancakes for supper while Rich and I order pizza to eat after the monkeys go to bed. This year, unbeknownst to one another, Rich and I each planned a little surprise. I sent him an Amazon gift certificate that he would find when he checked his e-mail at work. (Nothing says "I love you!" like books, right?) Anyway, when he called to thank me, I could tell he was not only thrilled, but also quite surprised...which was my goal.

But late in the afternoon, he called again. He asked me if I'd gotten a call from UPS. I had no clue what he was talking about, but I told him "no". Then he spilled the story. See, he had tried to surprise me, too, and early in the week had ordered tulips from www.flowers.com to be delivered to me. (No, I'm not a roses kind of gal...really, I'm a daisy and black-eyed Susan kind of gal...but I do love tulips as well.) So all day long, he'd been expecting a call from me. When he didn't hear, he knew that something must have gone wrong, so he checked the tracking and found out that UPS had just marked it as rescheduled for delivery on the 15th. Rich was flabbergasted, and called flowers.com...but they were less than helpful, telling him that if they weren't delivered today, he'd get a discount on the shipping costs. Needless to say, he was livid! I mean how can you take orders for Valentines deliveries, and then just reschedule them for the next day, without even notifying your customer to boot?!! To be perfectly honest, I couldn't care less about the flowers...but I am so touched that he tried to surprise me. (And I do think that was really sleazy of flowers.com, too.)

*It's no secret that computers intimidate me. Technology and I just don't seem to relate on any kind of intuitive level. But I finally decided that since I managed to figure out Mr. Linkys for Annie's challenge blog, that maybe I could figure out google reader. Of course, I know you're all laughing at me now...as it turns out it couldn't have been any easier. But that's okay, I don't mind all that much when people laugh at me. And I'm just so thrilled to finally have done this...I can't imagine how much time it will save me not having to click on each of my links to see if you've all posted anything new and exciting for me to read.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I *love* my Google Reader!!

What an unValentine-like thing for Flowers.com to do. Shame on them.

gail@more than a song said...

I think you'll like google reader!

I can't believe flowers.com did that either, so not nice. But the tulips will be nice, I love those!
And how on earth did I miss out on the m&m pancakes, yummy!

chrisa511 said...

Google Reader was my savior when I was working and had to use a "work computer" You can access it on any computer just by signing in which is great! I used live bookmarks through Firefox which I like even better. But you can only use that on one computer...the good thing about Goodgle reader is that it's accessible anywhere!

Shame on Flowers.com!! I can most certainly guarantee you that I will NOT be using them in the future. How can they do that? I guess Rich was livid....I would've been too.

And I used to love Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing! But I'm sure I'd hate it now if I read it..I think it's one of those books that loses it's charm when you're not a kid. I forgot that book...what does the kid eat...is it a goldfish?

Debi said...

Chris-

No, a turtle...hard to swallow (no pun intended) that one...a goldfish would have made more sense.

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane said...

Awww, he sent you tulips, that is so incredibly sweet! What a horrible company to just decide NOT to deliver them on Valentines Day. Ugh.

I love Google Reader, makes it so much easier! You'll be hooked in no time :)

Ana S. said...

That has happened to me, re-reading a childhood favourite and discovering that I just don't see the appeal anymore...and even though it's only natural it always leaves me a little sad.

That IS sleazy of flowers.com! Didn't it occur to them that when people book a delivery for a particular day they do it for a reason? Especially on Valentine's Day! But still, how sweet of your husband!

Google Reader really is a life saviour! I don't know how I ever managed without it. And like Chris said, I love how you can access it from any computer!

~**Dawn**~ said...

I think I am about the only person left to not switch over to Google Reader (I still use Bloglines) but regardless of the service, I love my feed reader! I do try to make a point not to read the blog in my reader though. I try to click through to read on the person's blog. Everyone puts so much effort into the way their blog looks that I want to be able to appreciate it. Plus, I find I am more inclined to leave comments when I am already in the blog. Reading on Bloglines makes me lazy about commenting. LOL.

Jean said...

Let me jump in here and play devil's advocate. It wasn't clear to me from what you wrote, Debi, if the fault on the delivery belongs to flowers.com or to UPS. It may be that flowers.com contracted with UPS for delivery on the 14th, but UPS re-booked it. If so, then there's probably not much that flowers.com can do for you beyond the free delivery offer. However, they should be complaining to UPS that UPS's screwup is costing them customers. I've never used flowers.com since I typically wither call a florist here and use FTD or, look up a florist in the city I'm sending flowers to and arrange a delivery that way. I hope you did get the flowers today and that they are lovely!!

Debi said...

Jean-

I have no idea whose fault it was. But they didn't offer to refund the delivery fee, just give a 20% discount of the $15 delivery fee. The flowers arrived about an hour ago...with their little card guaranteeing complete satisfaction with product and service. However, it seems they are having some problems with this one today...Rich has called the customer service department several times throughout the day only to get a recording that all their lines are busy, and to try again later. We're guessing there were plenty of late deliveries. But who knows.

kreed said...

How sweet that you two planned surprises for each other. I hope you are enjoying your tulips despite the delivery mishap...gotta love customer service!

I haven't even thought about Google reader...I am still impressed with myself that I have a blog, so it might be a while before I get any further!

Kim L said...

Thats pretty crappy of flowers.com. They should really be better prepared, since it is valentines day and all.

Pancakes sound really good! I had this amazingly pathetic applebee's food. We should have gotten pizza instead, really.

I hear you on the technology. It always takes me a while to figure things out. I don't use google reader, but bloglines, mostly because it is the first thing I happened to find that I liked. It does make your life so much easier when it just tells you what's new on everyone else's blogs. But hey, if you can blog, you can figure just about anything out.

Stephanie said...

I can't believe they didn't send your flowers until the 15th!! Still, it's a super-sweet thing to do.

Happy belated Valentine's Day!

CJ said...

I love that the two of you tried to surprise each other. Very O Henryish in a way.

Tulips and Daffodils are probably my favorite flowers, especially this time of year when I'm hoping feverishly for a sign of spring. Hopefully they came today and are beautiful.

Melody said...

I think that's a sweet thing about the gift exchanges between you and your husband. And I think no matter whatever the circumstances are, the florist has the responsibility to tell their customers about the late delivery... I love tulips; I think they're so beautiful and unique. ;)

Anonymous said...

aw, how sweet!!!

and i love your traditions with the strawberries and the m&ms...! :D