Date: March 2, 2008
Time: 10:32:00 AM
Locaton: MY KITCHEN TABLE, LAKEWOOD CO
Activity: Reading review in A&E Books section of The Denver Post
Reviewer: Robin Vidimos
In the novel The Soul Thief, all is not as it appears warns the book's narrator.
After quoting an approximately six dozen word passage from the novel, Vidimos writes "And with that sleight-of-hand, Baxter (the book's author) casts a pall of suspicion over all that follows. The narrator is clearly suspect, and the story is shaped to fit his vision and whims."
Any of you who have followed me for over three years should know by now that I like movies with cryptic and abstract endings. The same goes for books.
Date: March 9, 2008
Time: 11:02:00 AM (I was late getting up today)
Location: Same
Activity: Same
Reviewer: Dylan Foley conducting an interview of Charles Baxter with more information on The Soul Thief
After browsing the interview, I decided that I had to read this book.
Date: May 19, 2008
Time: 12:12:00 PM
Location: Tattered Cover Lodo Book Store
Activity: Trying to buy The Soul Thief
Clerk: Couldn't located book on their computer list.
I forgot about the book until I was reading another entirely different article in The Denver Post on Wednesday, July 2
nd, about the soul that bought the book back into my mind. As I knew I wouldn't be working for over two weeks and wouldn't have any problem getting delivery, I decided the order the book in the next day or two on the Internet.
Order Date: July 3, 2008
1 Package via DHL (USPS)
Amazon Order #: 103-6451627-3017031
Shipment Date: July 4, 2008
USPS Tracking #: 22180352386
Status: In Transit
I not only picked out The Soul Thief, I also decided to order Charles Baxter's The Feast of Love, The Art of the Subtext, and Sandra Scofield's The Scene Book, A Primer for the Fiction Writer. Those four books were in a package being tracked.
Track Your Package:
Date: July 7, 2008
Time: 12:11:00 AM
Location: PHOENIX AZ UNITED STATES
Event Details: In Transit
Wednesday, two days later.
Track Your Package:
Date: July 9, 2008
Time: 07:21:00 AM
Location: WEST DENVER CO UNITED STATES
Event Details: Arrival Scan
Just over an hour later, same day.
Track Your Package:
Date: July 9, 2008
Time: 08:53:00
Location: WEST DENVER CO UNITED STATES
Event Details: Arrival Scan
On Thursday I had to take the number 3 bus from Lakewood to Broadway, getting on the bus just before 12:00 PM. When I got home, I check on the package and found the following message.
Track Your Package:
Date: July 10, 2008
Time: 11:32:00 AM
Location: DENVER CO
Event Details: Delivery Attempted
This was the last Track entered for my package 103-6451627-3017031. I mean there is no trace of the package for the past nine days. It disappeared off the Internet screen.
The Status of the package is still In Transit and there is No Location of the package listed.
Date: July 11, 2008
Time: 1:38:00 PM
Phoned Post Office to set up time for delivery
Answered somewhere in Canada
I explained to the Canadian Post Office that I missed my delivery on Thursday, July 10
th, and would be home (from 8:00 AM COLORADO TIME to 6:00 PM COLORADO TIME) on Monday, July 14
th, to receive the package. They gave me the number OOR10400538 that I would have to use if I called back on the item.
Monday came and went, the package is still shown as In Transit and still No Location of package has been listed.
So instead of recalling the post office in Canada, I eMailed the following to Amazon.
Date: 07/14/08
Time: 22:22:34
Your Name: Robert R White Jr
Order Id: 103-6451627-3017031
Comments: I just missed the July 10th delivery, post office item number OOR10400538 (22180352386). I called the Post Office and set up a delivery for today, Monday, July 14th. I stayed home all day but the delivery was not made. I called again and due to my current schedule, can't stay home again all day until Saturday, July 19th. In the mean time, none of this has showed up on my tracking report. The last track was July 10, "Delivery Attempted." I'm not sure if I'm getting the order or not as they offer no further explanation and I'm not going to bother calling them again if it doesn't show up Saturday. I'm getting tired of having to deal with the post office as they would like for me to sit here everyday from 8:00 to 5:00 so I'll be here when the object is delivered. [Redacted]. I don't own a car and have to walk a mile and a half each way to the post office to pick anything up in person, which is tough on a 70 year old guy in this heat. And I also work occasionally or I wouldn't be buying things from Amazon. Thanks for letting me vent. Bob
Date: 07/15/08
Time: 9:01 AM
Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com. I am really sorry to hear that you have not received your package. I've placed a new order and we'll ship it to the same address as soon as possible. Here are the order details:
Order Number: 104-4630302-2733831
Estimated Delivery Date: July 22, 2008 - July 24, 2008
There's no charge for this replacement order. I've also upgraded the shipping method to Standard Shipping at no additional charge. Unfortunately, we can't ship this item to you right away because it's not in stock right now. If you'd rather not wait until the date listed above, you can cancel the replacement and receive a refund instead. Just send us an e-mail from this link:
[Link Redacted]
Again, I apologize for this situation. I've added some more information below that might help you. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.
Last night, around 5:10 PM when I got home from modeling, I found one of the books in the front door from where they have split the order.
I looked up numbers on the package and the current details on Track Your Package on Amazon and found the following:
Shipment Date: Tues., 15
th of July, 3:50 PM
Amazon Order #104-4630302-2733831
On the package was:
UPS Ground Tracking #: 1Z-A78-IQW-03-6341-4197
CTL #: 557JX626
RUN#: 20080715079
SHIP TO #20C5760
Track Your Package
Date: July 18, 2008
Time: 02:02:00 PM
Location: LAKEWOOD CO US
Status Details: Delivered
Location: Front Door
In the package was The Scene Book, A Primer for the Fiction Writer.
Nothing arrived on Saturday so there are still seven books, one package that I need to return or I will be charged for it again. The second package containing the three missing books.
I will be working three days next week so my chance of getting any more of the order is slipping gradually away.
Is there a moral to this story? Yeah. Lakewood has laid off too many employees and the people in Canada running our post office don't really give a damn if the Yanks get their books or not.