Murphy's Law.....

5:54 am - Saturday - August 31st - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 48%, wind 2 mph out of the south by southeast....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 94° F.  On this date in 2016 TLE and I were at Baldwin Beach in South Lake Tahoe.....

 Pretty much all that was on my mind Friday was the replacement phone (Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra) that was in the hands of UPS.  When I went to bed Thursday night it was in their possession in Louisville, KY.  When I awoke Friday morning it had landed in Portland, OR around 2:30 am, so at least it was in the same state as I.  Around 9:30 am I received a notice it had arrived at the processing center in Klamath Falls.....alright....it is now in the same city as I, and it was looking like I would receive my new phone before we left to make the 2 hour drive back to LPG&RVR, so TLE and I got dressed and drove over to Fred Meyers to do our big shopping, and to top off the VW fuel tank, which was right at 1/4 of a tank.  Knowing the phone would most assuredly be delivered to the hotel sometime between 11:15 am and 1:15 pm helped me focus on other things, but it was always in the back of my mind.

Upon arrival at Fred Meyers I headed directly for the Starbucks kiosk to order a Grande Coffee of the Day, while TLE began pushing the shopping cart up one aisle, and down another.  All the while I was walking behind her with a cup of coffee in one hand, and my damaged phone in the other.  Finally I got a notice that the package was being prepared for delivery....that is such a vague term, and no one really knows what that really means.

As we exited the hotel to go shopping we asked for a late checkout time, and they agreed to extend our stay until 12 pm.  Naturally, one is always hoping the package would be delivered closer to 11:15 am, than 1:15 pm, but it rarely, if ever works out that way.  We were back at the hotel with our groceries, and a full tank of gasoline by 10:30 am, and so began the wait.

Around 11:55 am we had finished packing, and headed down to the lobby to continue our 'phone watch'.  The PGA Tour Championship was on at that time, and the manager kindly changed the channel to the Golf Channel so I could distract myself.  All the while the status of the package NEVER changed from "Preparing package for delivery"....very frustrating.  The manager advised that UPS usually came by between 12 pm and 1 pm, but by 1:15 pm he had still not arrived, and the status of the package had still not changed.

I was in the process of calling UPS to see if I could go to their location and pick up the package when I heard the manger say "UPS is here"....I looked up from my barely usable phone to see the delivery guy walking toward me with my package....WHEW!  It was just 1:30 pm.  We quickly headed out to the VW to begin the 4 mile drive over to the local Verizon store to have them transfer my data from the damaged phone to the new one.  We arrived there around 1:50 pm, however, they were closed for lunch until 2:15 pm....doh!  The waiting game continues!

We walked across the parking lot to Big 5 Sporting Goods to browse around the store, and kill 25 minutes.   The manager returned right at 2:15 pm, and within a few minutes the 'data transfer' process had begun.....but wait, there's more. Before the data transfer could finish the phone, and all of my apps had to be updated, and that takes a while.  Finally, around 3 pm the data transfer has been completed, and the new phone is operational....but within a minute the phone turned off, and I could not get it to work. 

Ryan, the Verizon manager had to run the new phone in 'SAFETY MODE' to download some more information, and he said it would take a while, so TLE and I walked over to the local SUBWAY to get a foot long Club sandwich to kill some more time.  We were back at the store around 4 pm, and the phone had just finished downloading whatever it was downloading, and my phone, was, at last, working.  We were in the car by 4:15 pm for the 2 hour drive home, and made it home, without incident, by 6:15 pm....exactly.  A big THANK YOU to Ryan for his patience, and for working with us to get my new phone operational.  And with that, I will end this latest missive.

Thanks for stopping by!