Where is the mystery package? Who knows?

Last Friday, May 24th, I ordered and paid for a 1:6 scale Grim Reaper to furnish the dead version of Isabel's body. Later that day, I received notice that the seller had marked my order as shipped and provided tracking information.

Given that it can take up to 2 business days for tracking information to hit the USPS Web site and that there was a holiday Monday, the tracking information didn't yield anything until May 28th. Fine.

Not fine, however, is that the tracking has been saying "Status of your item: shipping information received" since May 28th, when it first appeared on USPS' radar.

What's it doing? Taking a nap? Picking its nose? Enjoying a transcontinental tour? I wish that the tracking would actually tell me.

For some reason, I think the obtuse tracking information is a function of the shipping service used by the seller [toynk], which sends all their packages to a third party [OSM Worldwide] to take care of shipping. In contrast, another package that I ordered last Friday [Willy and some black T-shirts from Cotswold Collectibles!] went directly to UPS, so, even though it's not scheduled to arrive until next Monday [June 3rd], I've been able to follow its progress. In further contrast, another package that I ordered yesterday [Carter's driving cap, also a plaid shirt and a hooded sweatshirt for anyone who needs them from Black Ops Toys] shipped directly through USPS has also appeared on USPS' Web site [also scheduled to arrive on June 3rd]. I blame the shipping company. Argh!

Dillon: built for comfort, rather than style

Dillon has gone through several permutations since his original conception. He was going to be the doll that ended up being Brandeis. As shown in various census pictures, he is now a Phicen Hindu head on a Takara Cy Girl AA body, wearing jeans, a white button-down shirt and a green vest with cartoon aliens on it.

I have decided that this is not actually what Dillon looks like. Dillon is moving to my incoming Hasbro AA GI Jane Vietnam Nurse [the cute one].  Jeans will stay, but top will be replaced by plaid shirt with hooded sweatshirt over it. He now strikes me as the sort of person who accidentally wears pajamas to work and has to be reminded by his loved ones that he's already worn those pants 4 days in a row. ["What? Damn...these are my favorite jeans."] I'm not quite clear on what he's thinking about instead, but it's clearly not clothes.