I Hate SmartPost: A Mini-Rant

SmartPost, is in my opinion, the worst thing to happen to online shopping since regular USPS shipping. The worst is when the store slips it by you, and you think your package is being serviced by an efficient shipping company.
For those of you who haven't experienced SmartPost (yet), it's when a regular shipping company like FedEx carries the package to your town, and then, instead of bringing it to your door, they drop it off at the post office distribution center where it will languish for a few more days away from your greedy little hands going from distribution center to local branch to finally finally finally your front door. If possible, this takes even longer than when the post office handles the whole thing (with the exception that FedEx faithfully updates its status and the USPS can't be bothered).
Last week I ordered a few items from GAP on sale. It appeared FedEx was handling my order, and I saw last night that although the estimated arrival date was 7/24, the package had arrived in Earth City. Usually that means it'll be here the next day. Nope. SmartPost strikes again. Lots of government agencies suck, but the post office has got to be one of the worst, where the employees really truly don't give a damn about you or your precious mail. Remind me to tell the story of our beloved mail delivery person.

Why Do We Care?

I signed up for Twitter this morning...For quite awhile now, I've been a one social network kind of girl. I deleted the old Myspace site and moved it all over to Facebook. Then my brother tells me I must join Twitter b/c he doesn't do facebook. He made quite a case, capping it off with "Basically twitter is pre-election Obama and facebook is Sarah Palin." How does one argue with that? One doesn't. One signs up for Twitter.
What I don't get is why are we so fascinated with the minute, constantly updated details of each others lives? Why do we feel the need to comment on them or "like" them? I don't know, but I know I visit a select group of blogs every day, I can't resist clicking on the links people put up of their latest cooking creations, and I love watching drama unfold via status updates and comments. I'll waste untold amounts of time on this. In bumper-to-bumper traffic (to avoid road rage), in the waiting room, when I'm supposed to be working, while I'm allegedly watching tv, while I'm waiting in line at the coffee shop.
I can't speak for the rest of humankind, but maybe I like it b/c I can't just sit still...Social networking is the post-post-modern equivalent of needlepoint.

Things That Make You Go "Hmmm"

Anyone else find it ironic that most of the people who are "concerned" by Judge Sonya Sotomayor's statement about a wise Latina woman making better decisions than a white man are...white men? Wouldn't it be horrible if their interests weren't the top priority of the entire establishment for the first time in centuries? I can only imagine the panic in the old boys' club.