Laptops

Hurrah, we have laptops! Our laptops arrived yesterday from FedEx, and I just wanted to briefly review the hijinx that occured trying to get these laptops. They have been a fight since the beginning: trying to pick the right ones for our needs, shipping them to Thom to get them set up, Thom paying a ridiculous amount of money to ship them to us...ridiculous taxes that customs made us pay to let them into the country (which I am disputing currently), etc. They arrived on Saturday, at which point we could have picked them up before noon at the FedEx office but since we don't have a car and the FedEx office is a ways out of town, we opted to wait two more days and have them delivered on Monday.

Since we live in a secured building, the delivery people can't just leave packages for you and actually can't even get in the building unless you are there to buzz them in. Monday was also the day of our first and only appointment: we were meeting with Doug, a friend of a friend of Thom's who works at ARUP, an awesome worldwide engineering company with an office here (where I would love to work). We were hoping the FedEx guy wouldn't come during our meeting with Doug, as we could be home anytime except then. I suppose the only fortunate thing about this whole endeavor is that the FedEx guy didn't come while we were away. After we returned, we watched some TV and Kane took a nap while I read. The buzzer rang for the door downstairs. Kane shot up off the couch and stumbled into our room half awake mumbling about the FedEx guy. "Did you buzz him in?", I asked. He ran to the phone to buzz the guy in, having dashed for our room instead of the phone in his half-awaken-ness. Don't you love being awoken by a loud, ominous ringing?

So we buzz the guy in, tell him to wait in the lobby and that we'll be right down to meet him. We run into the hallway and push the button for the elevator. There are two elevators, one is flashing "out of service". The other is moving, but skips our floor. It won't come back to our floor and is obviously not working correctly. We investigate the emergency stairwell and it's as dark as a cave at midnight. I venture a poke at a nearby switch hoping it's not an emergency button or something, and lights flicker on. I tell Kane to man the phone in our apartment and keep trying the elevator while I run down the stairs to meet the FedEx guy. I dash down to the 10th floor and find the door back into the hallway ajar (we later found that the doors back into each floor from the emergency stairwell are locked). I try the elevator from the 10th floor and it miraculously stops for me and takes me to the lobby.

The package and FedEx guy are waiting, I sign for the package, blah blah, and have a seat on my package of computers. The elevator is not responding at all anymore. It won't budge from the ground floor. I think this fiasco occured only slightly before we arrived because people were starting to slowly bleed out of the emergency stairwell and bustle about complaining about the elevators. A guy went to get someone to fix it. I just waited. I didn't bring my cell phone, so couldn't call Kane. I didn't have any keys so I couldn't get back into the emergency stairwell or even get up to my floor if the elevators were working. Good move, me.

I called Kane from the buzzer at the front of the building and asked him to come down with the keys. He arrived and the elevator still wasn't working. We decided to get back to our apartment by climbing the 15 flights of stairs, Kane carrying our 31 pound box-o-computers. Another couple made the journey with us, but couldn't get into their floor because they didn't have the key and our key only works to get into the ground floor and our floor. I think our apartment is run by communists, or at least people who think communism is humerous to watch. We told the couple that we'd leave the door to our floor ajar in case they want to come up to see if the elevator is working or come use our phone or wait at our place. We didn't see them again, so I assume they figured it out. We heard the familiar *ding* of a working elevator not long after that.

So, we have computers. We don't have internet but are mooching off the public library for all they're worth in the internet category. The internet here is giving us guff about going to gmail.com to get our email though, so we still won't be terribly responsive yet. But in another week or so, I hope to have all emails responded to. Don't give up on me yet. At least blogger.com works.

On a side note, we have some tentative reservations for visitors: Rhonda says she wants to come for the end of July to mid-August, Carissa and EJ want to come in June, and Eric said August-ish (is that what you said, Eric?). So, like I said, space is limited so if you want the extra room and bed in our house and desire our undivided attention during your visit, let us know when you plan to visit asap. Keep in mind that your summer is our winter, though I think it's "mild" like in California (freezing to me and mom, pleasant to Rhonda and dad, tolerable to the rest of you). We don't know what our situation will be later in the year (with jobs, vacation time, living situation, etc.), but don't let that stop anyone from planning a trip; we want to see all you people!!