Lately on The Love Immigrant

I have to apologize again, I guess, for not posting more regularly than I should.. there have been some technical issues here. Namely, that with only one computer between us, I have only had time really to keep up with my family (and their endless emails), before relinquishing control back to Michael (who continues to work on his internet business).

We did order a brand new laptop for me 2 weeks ago. Last Monday it arrived in pristine condition, thanks to DHL, and I eagerly plugged it in and admired my new toy.. I didn't dare play with it until Michael came home, since the OS is in German and I promised to let him set it up for me in English. Needless to say, I waited patiently for him to return from work and I kept my mits off the damned thing (although now there is a slightly worn place in the carpet from my pacing).

So he arrives in the late afternoon, and he too admires the new toy, eager to play with it himself! He turns on the power and presto! A beautiful CrystalBrite screen in a lovely shade of blue.. of course, the OS setup is the first thing we see, and Michael makes himself comfortable on the sofa, cappuccino nearby, and proceeds to set up my new laptop... BUT... the keyboard is dead. Absolutely nothing happens when he presses the keys. NOTHING.

Looking through the box and packing material, we find the customer service number and Michael calls them right away.. while I try to overcome my disappointment and irritation. The man he spoke to was very accomodating, and told him that DHL would pick up the defunct item the next day. The company would either repair the problem, or they would send us a replacement by Friday. I know, it's too good to be true, isn't it?

Well, true to their word, DHL did pick up the package on Tuesday, as promised.. so I have been eagerly awaiting Fridays delivery of my repaired or replaced laptop. No. No. NO. Did they deliver it on Friday? Of course not. It was.. too good.. to be true.

After the mail arrived yesterday, minus the package I was expecting, I called Michael at work and let him know that we didn't get it.. So once again, he called the company, and they said they had repaired the problem (a loose wire) and had given it back to DHL for delivery.. So now we're hoping that it will come with today's mail.. we'll see, but neither of us are expecting it really until Monday, by which time we won't have time to mess with it, since we're leaving for Dänemark early Tuesday morning.. ho hum. And damnit!

All of this wouldn't have been so aggravating, had it not been for the fact that we decided to get a satellite system, so I can catch more English channels than CNN (how utterly boring). First, there was a problem with the receiver and the dish not working, so we took the whole thing back and got another one.. then, the receiver on that system was messed up, so we took back just the receiver. After 3 days of irritation and hours of programming, it is finally working.. but we are still entertaining murderous thoughts about the idiot who sold us the system to begin with.. ho hum. And damnit!

In between these problems, Michael has been tweaking our car for the trip, and last night worked on some problem with the power steering until well after dark. He came in looking like a grease monkey.. his hands were covered in black, and there were streaks on his arms and face and the tip of his nose. And you know what? He's even sexy covered in grease...

It was quite funny actually, because when I was still in America, he called me on the phone once and my father picked up the other extension (not knowing I was on it).. later Dad wanted to know who was the 'black man' I was talking to. This, of course, had me rolling in laughter, because evidently Dad's southern ears can't pick out the difference between European and African.. Michael and I have a running joke about that incident.. I should have taken a picture of my 'black man' for Dad, but I was in the middle of cooking dinner.

On the lighter side, we did order my flowers for the wedding, and they will be delivered on Monday (knock on wood), and this morning we went to the bridal shop and picked up Michael's shirt and tie. Then we both got hair cuts in Rendsburg.. they are having a festival this weekend, but we didn't hang around because we wanted to be back in time to get the mail.. just in case.