short fat guy online

One last entry for this countdown.
    Even though I knew my G5 was now delayed till 8/20, I couldn’t fight the habit ot checking out the Mac Rumors thread, my credit card webpage, and my order status page.  It looked like my news actually got worse, since the order status page was now showing a shipping date of 9/13!  I chose to disbelieve that, just for my own peace of mind.
    Things started looking up in the evening though, when I got a “Your Apple Store G5 Order - Revised Shipping Estimate” e-mail from Apple.
    “Thank you for your recent G5 order.
    “We are pleased to report that we have revised the shipping estimate for your order.  We anticipate shipping your G5 on or before Monday, August 9.  This shipping estimate is based on our very latest information and supersedes all previous communications regarding the status of your order.
    “Please note that we have made changes to a line item on your order so that we might expedite it.  The modification to the line item did not affect the configuration or the price of your computer.
    “A shipment notification, with tracking information, will be emailed to you as soon as your order is shipped.
    “We appreciate your business and your patience. Thank you for shopping at the Apple Store!
    “Best regards,
    “The Apple Store Team”
    I don’t need to tell you this was most welcome news.  I’ll be getting my G5 in little over a week!  It’s almost worth restarting my countdown!

Please do not read this if you are from a starving, Third World country.  It was taken from an e-mail sent in by Schmoe:

    Where’s the Beef?
    It’s at a Pennsylvania pub that serves the world’s biggest burger—weighing in at NINE lip-smacking pounds!
    That’s no whopper—you can actually get this meat monster for $23.95, loaded with all the “fixins”:
    Two whole tomatoes
    A half-head of lettuce
    12 slices of American cheese
    A full cup of peppers
    Two entire onions
    Plus, a river a mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard.
    Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub is renown for its 6 lb. burgers. National and local newspapers have reviewed the burger and its main appeal seems to be…
    NO ONE HAS FINISHED IT!!

    No wonder, when the human stomach, at the worst, holds about eight pounds.  Feast on the included images, below…

My stupid Troubled Loner site was down again last night.  I complained to my host but was basically told ‘it’s just one of those things’.  Since my Apple e-mail is forwarded through that site, I grew paranoid that any e-mails about my G5 might be getting bounced.  In a panic, I tried to change my Apple account’s e-mail address…but I couldn’t figure out how.  I can change my ID name and password and billing information, but I couldn’t find a way to change my e-mail address.  I changed my subscriptions for Apple news and iTMS news so maybe that’s good enough.
    Meanwhile, there’s still no word.  Still no change on my Order Status page.  Still no change on my credit card’s account activity page.
    Looks like today is nothing more than the day to get through to get to tomorrow.   [3:15 PM]
    Update: Fuck.
    I posted the above entry too soon.  At around twenty after three, the guys on the Mac Rumors thread were starting to see their order status change.  Mine stayed, but when I checked again at three:thirty it had changed too.

    Looks like I’m stuck working on my PowerBook for another month.  Looks like I might as well stop this countdown too.
    Damn it.
    (I also figured out how to change my Apple default e-mail address.  At the “My Info” page of the Support section.  Not like it matters anymore though.)   [3:36 PM]
    Update: Okay.  Get this.  Now people on the Mac Rumors site are saying their shipping date has reverted back to “07/30/04”.  So I check my Order Status page and my shipping date has reverted back to “07/30/04” too!  WTF??!!  Even more puzzling, or troubling, the date bounced between “08/20/04” and “07/30/04” as I refreshed the page!
    Seriously, WTF???!!!

It’s like a fricking roller coaster.  At the beginning of the day we were fairly convinced we’d wake up Friday to find the shipping date would change to “08/15/04” or something like that.  Now, Apple Insider suggests Apple might ship G5’s out Friday after all!
    I think I might start drinking again.

Since I’m working later hours this week, I’ve had to watch the Democratic National Convention on tape delay.  I only just heard this week’s Stupid Question tonight, although it comes from last night’s PBS’s coverage.  Following Al Gore’s speech, PBS floor correspondent Gwen Ifill while speaking with Lelena Haro, Chief of Staff for Miami Dade Democratic Party, asked the following insightful question:

    Since this question, posed I remind you at the Dem-o-crat-ic National Convention, is so deep and inscrutable, I will leave it to more learned sages to ponder.  Meanwhile, I’ll reset my VCR to tape C-SPAN for tonight.