Groceries Delivery Goof

 I often have my weekly groceries delivered to me as I find it difficult lugging the bags up the stairs to my apartment. If requires several trips especially when I have purchased a lot of liquids. There have been many times when something was sold out by the time they shopped my order so they either remove that item from the order or try to substitute for something similar. One time I had to call because of some mix-up at the store. I think the order wasn't placed in the to be picked up in the for delivery section. A bit of an unexpected delay and the problem was taken care of.

Recently on Saturday 29 Aug 2026. This happens. My order was delayed and delivered, however they dropped it off in front of the wrong apartment. The photo they included for the delivery didn't show the apartment number but it was clearly not my apartment, the door knob on the apartment they left it at was on the opposite side of the door from mine. Plus the doormat was different looking. I contacted the main customer service and had 2 options have a re-delivery the next day (Sunday) or get a refund. Well I need my groceries so I opted for re-delivery. While on the phone with customer service it looked to me that the apartment that received my order was the one directly across the hall. I should have knocked on their door and inquired about any deliveries but I didn't I was already in the process for re-delivery. I probably should have, but that would have needed to done when I discovered the problem which wasn't too much later than the delivery. 

I seem to recall hearing the rustling of paper bags being delivered, that a minute or two later someone was talking in the hall and then the bags rustling sound again. The neighbors probably noticed the order at their door, said "what the? I didn't order this. Oh what the heck" and then took the stuff inside. At the time of all this I hadn't yet gotten the notification of the delivery. I also don't like to open the door while the driver is still delivering in case they had to take a couple of trips.

I am guessing my neighbor had discovered the delivery and just brought it in thinking nothing of the mix-up and not noticing that the bags are marked with my name, well part of my name they don't print my entire last name it's one or two letters short. it doesn't include the address so even if you saw the other name you wouldn't know who was supposed to receive it. Unless you know all your neighbors.

As I said I had talked to customer service (corporate I think) and they supposedly put in a re-order and gave me a reference number. Checking my email and my account early Sunday morning I noticed there weren't any updates. So I call the store's number get put on hold at the first answering, get disconnected. Then with the 2nd call get hold of the lady in charge of deliveries and she was not aware of any re-order until I reported it to her. She assured me she would take care of things and I finally received the re-order at a reasonable time. Earlier than the expected re-ordering delivery was supposed to be by about a hour maybe an hour and a half.

UPS Delivery Delay

 I recently made an order of some storage boxes for my trading card collection from BCW supplies. Since this order was for supplies and not actually trading cards I am not mentioning this specifically on my trading card blog. Shortly after my order was verified I got a message saying that the alternate address being shipped to wasn't available. Somewhere my "My UPS" account lists the UPS Store around the corner from me as an alternate ship to address. I think that was part of the issue. Anyway the package starts moving and a few days later I get an email stating that my package will arrive that next day (Wednesday). Well the package doesn't show up and checking tracking says the package is delayed (because it is attempting to go to an alternate address I guess). It stops at a processing center near to my area. The next day or two I keep checking the tracking and the package is still "delayed" and holding at that processing center. A few days later frustrated that it is now almost a week after the original delivery date was supposed to be, I notice again the option to "change delivery address". So I make the changes to make sure that my apartment is now the new destination. Then the next day I get an email saying the package had been loaded on the truck and was marked "Out For Delivery" the next day. Sure enough the package moves and I received the package a week after the original delivery date.

NEVER FORGET 9 - 11

 

Today 11 September 2026 marks the 25th Anniversary of one of the most horrible acts of terrorism that man has ever committed. Those who are old enough to remember the events of that tragic Tuesday morning in New York City, Washington DC (technically Arlington, VA) and in the middle of a field  in rural Pennsylvania, can never forget the horrors of the day. Even those who were too young to remember have had their lives effected by the events. Today's children and those young adults who were born after that day have no idea what it was like. In the days that followed most Americans were glued to their TVs or radios getting whatever new information they could. Still in shock. Some families were awaiting verification of the fate of loved ones who worked in and around the World Trade Towers, or residents in the DC area that had family who worked in the Pentagon. Due to the grounding of all air traffic the skies were eerily silent.

Here is my recollection of the day as I recall what details I can remember after 25 years.

At the time my home was the house I grew up in located in Wheaton (Silver Spring), MD. I was working for a company that contracted to the government primarily in Navy Shipbuilding and design. Our office was one of several in Crystal City, VA (Arlington, VA), our company had 5 or 6 offices in Crystal City.

At the time I commuted via the subway system METRO, our office was next to the Crystal City station, which is two stops from The Pentagon stop on the blue and yellow lines. I had just arrived at the office around the time that news of the first plane hitting the World Trade Towers was breaking. A few people were searching the (then much slower) internet news sites like The Washington Post to get more info. Someone had a radio in their office and was listening to that for updates. Like most people that day upon hearing about the first plane it was thought to have been a tragic accident and references to an accident in 1945 where a plane hit the Empire State Building were being discussed. Talk about the plane was now just about the only thing happening. Most everyone was trying to get updates via internet. A few people were trying to call co-workers at one of the other offices. Connections were spotty even direct phone-to-phone.

In those days there were very few cell phones and the dial-up connections to the internet were land-lines not very fast compared to today's Wi-fi wireless/bluetooth internet. News of a second plane hitting the other tower came in and now everyone knew it was NO accident but an act of terrorism. Then the Pentagon got hit. When that happened we soon heard sirens from emergency vehicles screaming. Some people claimed that they had heard a low flying plane. I did not. There were rumors that it was The Capital that had been hit. As we now know the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was thought to have been headed to DC to target The Capital.

At this time our office manager was tying to contact our main office to get advice on how to proceed under the conditions. Should it be business as usual or should we "duck and cover" that sort of thing. He was having difficulty reaching the main office due to the phone lines being tied up. Also of note on Tuesdays the upper management held weekly management staff meetings which was in progress. I found out later from someone who was a manager's assistant at the time that it was pretty much business as usual and they were in the meeting and continued with it. I'm not sure when they first heard about the attacks.  She (the assistant) also commuted via subway at the time but she had to walk a couple miles to get to one of the other subway stations that remained open and had to cross one of the major bridges in DC. Anyway it was decided and suggested that we close up the office and go home for the day.

Our office was just a few yards via the Crystal City underground to the Metro Station. I forget which building it was but from the outside it is practically just across the street from the station. I think there was a slight crowd getting to the station. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I guess it was a bit busier than normal, even though by this time it was after the regular morning rush hour. The pedestrian traffic was still pretty crowded and rush hour like. After some waiting on the platform I got onto a Yellow Line train. The subway system seemed to be a little slower than normal with trains leaving platforms. As I said the Crystal City stop was just two stops from The Pentagon, the station between the two is Pentagon City (a shopping mall mostly or was). I recall progress between stations was slow and while the train was in the tunnels between stations it made a stop or two to wait for trains ahead to clear the next station. While waiting at the Pentagon City station the train was at the station for quite a while before moving onward. While waiting the operator mentioned delays due to trains clearing stations. I don't think there was any talk about the Pentagon station just yet. I think between Pentagon City station and The Pentagon station we once again had a long wait in the tunnel. Eventually the train got moving again but an announcement was made that the train would not be stopping at the Pentagon stop, just passing through.

So our Yellow line train eventually came out of it's tunnel after the Pentagon station to cross the Potomac on it's own bridge. When the train came out of the tunnel I recall looking over toward the Pentagon and seeing that huge black cloud of smoke billowing from the building. The subway however comes out of the ground on the side opposite from where the damage was so we didn't see the gaping hole in the building just a cloud of smoke. A very surreal site. The yellow line train I was on was either the last, or one of the last trains to pass though the Pentagon station before they closed the station, and a few others that day.

The rest of the ride to my stop which was the Wheaton station where I would park my car was uneventful. I got home safely. Oddly enough my mother first heard about the attacks from my Sister who lives in California. My sister was probably asking about my situation or if there was any word from me. I don't recall if I was able to or made an attempt to call home before leaving work, to tell my mom I was safe.

I probably should have made a post like this way back then to keep all the details fresh. It saddens me that some of those details are blurry or gone from my memory.

I've Changed My Mind... Again... Maybe.

 As I go through this life, I often find myself thinking of the past. The things I used to do, some of the things I still do, and some of the things that I have done a 180 on how I feel about them. On occasion there are also things that I will stop doing or even thinking about and then decades later revisit them. For now I am just thinking about things that I enjoyed doing but for some reason or two no longer do.

As a Teen I enjoyed playing all sorts of role playing games and war games. Games like Dungeons & Dragons, first the original version then The "Advanced D&D", Diplomacy, Risk and a bunch of other things with the group of friends I hung out with. So yeah "geeks" or "nerds" yeah I was one. Most of my fellow nerdy friends were the top students in the class. Me I was "Mr. Average". Senior Year of high school when the class rankings came out I was in the middle of the list. I don't recall if the total number of students were odd, which would make me the exact middle, or if it was an even number making me either the tail end of the top of the class or the beginning of the bottom of the class. I like to think it was an odd number because I always recall being in the exact middle of the class.

After high school I lost contact with those friends One I have since reconnected with on Facebook, and he seems to be the same. He appears to still be into playing strategy and war games. In the typical life fashion we drifted apart. College life took over our lives and we moved on. Soon I stopped playing those games mostly because I didn't have any new friends that were into that stuff and I didn't really pursue them anymore. There was a short period of time in College when my group of friends dabbled with D&D but it didn't last, and frankly it didn't feel the same way that my Junior High and Senior High School years felt when it came to those games. It was a different energy and I guess attitude. 

I still enjoy the Sward & Sorcery Fantasy fiction genre or "Swords & Sandals" as some call it for books and films And I like the newer steampunk genre of things. My interests in those genres come and go. I tend to stick with Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) more anyway. Especially space travel and time travel.

In music there have been songs that when they first were released I couldn't stand them or their genre, then many years later and often decades later I kind of like them. I can tolerate them at least. Then there are some songs or groups that I can NEVER like or appreciate, and I try to appreciate everything.

I think that will do for now. If I felt like it I could probably go on about this sort of thing for quite a while.