Travels of the Mac

Nerd story coming . . . and here it is.

We bought a Mac mini for my other job. My partner is writing some software (work partner, not life partner; I refer to my life partner as "my wife"). This software is supposed to work on Mac, Linux, and Windows, and we already had the other two. But we needed a Mac for testing and to help develop the installation process, etc. God has been good to our company, so we bought a Mac mini.

(This is a big moment, I must confess. I love Macs. It's genetic; I get it from my Mom. She was an Administrative Assistant back when they were called Secretaries, and she worked for several engineering companies, always on Macs. My Dad, on the other hand, had been a programmer back in the punchcard days. He liked "real computers." One year, when I was in High School I guess, they decided to get a new computer. Oh, the yelling.)

Anyway, we bought this Mac on the 10th of June; Apple said it would ship on the 17th. The keyboard and mouse arrived separately (?), and when I checked the Apple site again, they said it would ship on the 22nd.

I was so mad. [insert winky thing here]

Then I got an email on the 17th. It had shipped. Woohoo!

I am a connoisseur of online package tracking. It tells the story of where my package has gone, which is great, because I never go anywhere. (By the way, FedEx and UPS are awesome. USPS is a pile of hoo.)

So, without further ado, here's the story of the travels of our Mac.

Jun 17, 2005 - 11:00 PM - Picked up - SHENZHEN CN
China? This is made in China? Oh, crap. I wonder if our defense mainframes are made in China, too?

Jun 21, 2005 - 11:30 PM - At local FedEx facility - SHENZHEN CN
That's right. Nothing for 4 days, only to be told that it's now at the FedEx facility in the same city. Did they walk it there? Did it travel by silkworm?

The expected delivery date is June 23. It took 4 days to cross a city. Based on that, how long will it take to cross the Pacific Ocean? In my mind, there is no way this will happen.

Jun 22, 2005 - 7:02 AM - Int'l shipment release - INDIANAPOLIS, IN
Now we're getting somewhere. Welcome home, baby.

Jun 22, 2005 - 12:42 PM - Arrived at FedEx location - ANCHORAGE, AK
Huh!?! (not my first response) What happened? Anchorage? It was in Indiana, now it's in Alaska. Is all of FedEx on crack? I like baby seals and all, but if one of them ends up with my Mac, it's clubbin' time.

Jun 22, 2005 - 2:36 PM - Departed FedEx location - ANCHORAGE, AK
Jun 22, 2005 - 11:30 PM - Arrived at FedEx location - INDIANAPOLIS, IN
That's more like it. I hope you enjoyed your detour. Does FedEx have some freaky pilot union that gets paid by the mile?

Jun 23, 2005 - 3:11 AM - At dest sort facility - HAPEVILLE, GA
Hapeville, also known as Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. That's an Atlanta joke, by the way.

Jun 23, 2005 - 8:32 AM - On FedEx vehicle for delivery - DECATUR, GA
That's right. Come to papa. The scheduled delivery time is 10:30 AM. It's now 9:24 AM. It just might make it. If it does, I'm adding FedEx to my stock portfolio. Just kidding. I have 4 kids; I don't have a stock portfolio.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy a copy of World of Warcraft.

Update
Nurse, mark the time: 9:46 AM, EDT, June 23. Hello Mac.

Further Update
My wife (the lovely 4boymom) got home from taking the boys to the zoo and at first acted all cool, "No, I don't want to see the Mac," blah blah, computers are for nerds, etc.

Then, a little while later, she knocked on my office door and said, "Can I see the Mac?" Score! Of course, she only wanted to see the little white box. When I turned it on her eyes glazed over. When I started describing how OS X is built on UNIX, she fled.