Lily is very tired of this bullshit Mo-Do discussion, so she is racked out on the couch while Shawn plays the bass:
We’re actually playing Frampton (our buddy Geoff was a big Frampton fan, as well as Traffic), I just brushed Steve, Lily is approving of the music selection, all the pets have been pottied and treated, and I seriously think I am the luckiest person in the world. I have good pets, my folks are alive and healthy and live down the street, my brother and sisters are all healthy and I get along with them most of the time, and this is what Steve looks like right now as Shawn plays along:
I have good animals, good family, good friends, good food, good essential oils, a calm and caring environment, and I just feel like I have finally figured shit out. Not to get all maudlin, but a lot of things in life take time to sort out and you have to figure out what matters. Sometimes it takes longer for others (translation- ME), sometimes the things you have gone through make the process slower. But when you get there, it’s so fucking sweet. Like honeysuckle plants in June with a cool breeze and no humidity and the Allman Brothers.
We all need a separate peace.
jl
Glad Cole is having a nice evening.
That Steve, under the coffee table? Looks like he is blasted out of his mind on ‘nip. Fess up, Cole
? Martin
125 tealight candles and you’re sticking with the story that this isn’t a serious relationship?
MoeLarryAndJesus
Jeezus, that cat looks like it swallowed a Shetland pony.
ulee
Well, I suppose I can’t argue with this, and I’ll agree. This is a happy household.
jl
@MoeLarryAndJesus:
The Cole household has a long tradition of big/fat/ample/floofy/massive/plus-sized cats.
ulee
@jl: Steve is a heroin addict. It’s sort of an open secret.
Cacti
O/T but the Daily Beast seems to have the scoop on why DiFi has her knickers in a twist, and why the White House kept her out of the loop.
With friends like these.
MattR
I will call your pooped Lily with an Ellie
A Humble Lurker
And next week you’ll be telling us all what douche bags we are, and than the next week after that you’ll be right back to saying how you love everything.
So shall the cycle continue.
Happy you’re feeling good, though. Got to take it where you can get it.
Mustang Bobby
Thanks for the peaceful thoughts and images. I really needed them right now.
Barney
I’m intrigued by what looks like a selection of the finest cough medicines known to humanity, arrayed on the table.
TriassicSands
I have to vent.
I’m in the middle of the most unbelievable Cluster F%#k with both the VA and USPS. I’ve always been something of a fan of the USPS. Sure they make mistakes, but I’ve always found their service generally quite good and at least until recently their prices quite reasonable. But their performance in delivering a small package from OH to WA is inept beyond my ability to believe it. The person who sent the package had a brain injury and in addition to having very poor judgment, he’s isn’t exactly detail oriented. He sent me a package on May 21 — 2-day Priority Mail — but put the wrong Zip Code on the package. Not only did he get the Zip Code wrong, it’s an imaginary Zip Code that doesn’t exist. The USPS read the Zip Code and sent the package to CA, which is the closest location to his made up Zip. However, the mailing address is correct. In CA someone realized the Zip Code was bogus and sent the package to Federal Way, WA, which is the main sorting center for my address. At Federal Way, the package reentered the “automatic” system and disappeared for several days with no further updates on the tracking number. It turns out it went back to CA. after several more days, someone in CA must have read the address and sent the package to Federal Way, WA, where it reentered the automatic system and has now gone to CA for the third time.
When this first happened I called Customer Service and eventually a local USPS employee called me. He said he’d try to take care of it.
When I saw that the package was headed back to CA (3rd time’s a charm), I called the local employee, who didn’t remember me contacting him (a week ago?), but he’s headed out on vacation tomorrow, so nothing will be done locally until he returns.
I understand the Zip Code automated system, so the first trip to CA was understandable. But there a human being must have read the Zip, the Address and realized that the written address was obviously where the package needed to go. So, that person sent it to Federal Way, but apparently without altering the package in any way. So, when it got to WA it simply reentered the automated system and was returned to a non-existent Zip Code. In CA a person must have looked at the package, realized the error, and then, once again, apparently without altering the package address or bar code in any way, returned the packed to Federal Way, WA. Repeat. Back to CA.
I asked the local USPS employee if someone discovered a wrong Zip Code and bar code (based on that Zip Code) couldn’t they simply use a felt tip pen to x-out the incorrect information and write in the correct. He said “yes,” they could do that, but apparently that’s just a bridge too far for the USPS employees in Bell Gardens, CA and Federal Way, WA.
It is nearly impossible to get a USPS human being on the phone by calling Customer Service and the automated phone system is both idiotic and totally unhelpful. Yesterday at 3 PM I was told by the automated phone system that Customer Service “was not available.” That was after being told several times there would be long “wait times.”
Given the number of packages the USPS handles every day, week, month, and year, and the likelihood that some number of those packages have the wrong Zip Code written on them, I am at a complete loss to understand why no one is able to straighten this out. Meanwhile, I hope my local USPS representative has a nice time on vacation, where I have no doubt he will forget, yet again, all about my calls to him. I guess he can’t write down calls he receives.
To make matters worse, I’m in the middle of an even worse CF with the VA. I don’t have the heart to explain that problem, but suffice it to say the VA is one extremely troubled organization.
It’s OK if no one reads this. I just needed to vent. Vent over.
NotMax
TMI.
@Triassic Sands
Been there, done that, never got the T-shirt.
Frustrating as all get-out, but it will be resolved. Meanwhile, you can rest assured your call “is very important” to them.
:)
Our little town lost its ZIP code some time back, except for P.O. box renters, who still can use it. Some online retailers insist we non-boxholders just do not exist unless we give the address as being in the next town over, some 5 miles away. Have had non-USPS deliveries sent back because the delivery company could not find the street name in that other town.
OzarkHillbilly
Why do I get the feeling things are on the cusp of going to hell in a handbasket in the Cole household? John? Never dare the Gods. Never.
Patricia Kayden
According to the Pope, those of us who don’t have any children but have pets are going to end up lonely and bitter in our old age.
huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/03/pope-francis-married-couples-children_n_5434282.html
The Pope needs to read John’s posts.
srv
Your rants are what give me my joy, and therefore your peace in the valley limits my freedom and happiness.
Aimai
@TriassicSands: same thing exactly happened to me with UPS years ago. All the systems are like this.
Ash Can
That’s not a cat, that’s a beanbag chair.
Elizabelle
One of my favorite Lily pictures ever.
Peace on.
Lurker
Looks like Steve is zonked on weapon-grade catnip.
singing truth to power
John, your post makes me happy. You do deserve peace and good things in your life.
singing truth to power
John, your post makes me happy. You do deserve peace and good things in your life.
keestadoll
“Like honeysuckle plants in June with a cool breeze and no humidity and the Allman Brothers.” You just described my 70’s childhood summers in San Diego (yes, back then, before massive sprawl, it was a drier climate).
Betsy
Love it. Enjoy.
Elizabelle
@TriassicSands:
That’s awful about USPS not (easily) correcting the mistake.
Makes you wonder if employees should be praised for problem-solving; a shout out, if not $.
cmorenc
@John Cole:
Um…I’m kinda curious about this “good essential oils” item, especially in light of last night’s thread about MoDo’s most excellent adventures in a Denver hotel room.
scav
late addition. It’s odd, that ZIP, because errant ZIPS are about the easiest address error to fix, provided the city name (and sometimes street name) are correct. Except in larger cities, the house number can be off and it doesn’t matter for ZIP. They’re either especially brain-dead, on autopilot pursued by angry bean-counters or something else is really wrong with that address. Address recovery used to be stellar chez USPS. I think the automation bean-counters got to them.
ranchandsyrup
My wife’s way into the essential oils. She uses diffusers and I was skeptical about them. But they work. The oil she uses in our room helps me sleep well. *shrug*
greenergood
@ranchandsyrup: Ranch, what oil do you use to help sleep? Definitely need it.
John: so glad you are approaching happy ways to be in the world. And as for Steve – I thought my 14-pound cat was big, especially when he sleeps on his back with paws in the air. My cat is a Lilliputian compared to yours. I think if Steve didn’t have fur, I’d have thought there was an adolescent alligator living under your coffee table. But he’s got a lovely voice, especially when asking for steak …
John (MCCARTHY) Cole
@ranchandsyrup: My favorites are lavender and lemongrass.