RangerSix

I had a similar situation with UPS back in October. Had it not happened to me, I never would have believed it. It felt like I was in a classic Seinfeld episode. Heres how it went down October 19th: A small shoebox sized package was shipped to me from Italy (contents valued at $3500). Mode of shipment was intended to be USPS mail because I am stationed overseas (South Korea). By mistake, the shipper mailed it using UPS without realizing that they cannot deliver to APO addresses. By the time I discovered that the package was shipped via UPS there was nothing I could do but reroute the package to my parents home in Virginia. October 21st: I called UPS requesting package be redirected to my parents home in Virginia. At this point the package is in Louisville. The UPS representative mentions that the package is being processed and to call back in 24 hours to make the address change. October 22nd: I contact UPS and the representative was very friendly and makes the address change. She mentions the package will be delivered to Virginia on 24 October. October 24th: The day comes and goes and no package. October 25th: I call to inquire package status. The lady mentions that the package will be delivered to Los Angeles today. I asked, Delivered to whom? I live in South Korea and I requested three days ago that the package be delivered to Virginia and not to some address in LA." Im assured the package is still in transit and will arrive in Virginia within the next few days. October 27th: After several days, the package is still in California. I call again to ask why the package is still sitting in CA. The customer rep mentions that it is scheduled for delivery in Los Angeles. For the third time, I mentioned that the package was never intended for LA, but to Virginia. He says there are no record of it going to Virginia and that maybe the previous customer reps processed the information wrong. He further requires a name and phone number to contact my parents to validate delivery of package to new location. He additionally sends a note to the LA hub to contact me. Two hours later I get a phone call from a lady in LA who promises me that she will track down my package and give me a call back once she has found it. She never calls back. Rather than being a nuisance I allow the system time to resolve the problem. Luckily, the package has now left LA and has arrived in Louisville. On the 31st of October, a lady from Louisville calls my parents to confirm new address. My mom answers and confirms location but now they (my dad and mom) will be going on vacation to attend the Notre Dame football game in Indiana and will not be around. My mom redirects the package to the new address in Indiana (my brother lives in South Bend). The lady on the phone was very nice and makes the address change and tells my mother that the package will be delivered to South Bend, Indiana within the next day or so. Incredibly, the package does not end up in Indiana, but back to California instead. UPS was still trying to deliver item to my APO address (which automatically redirects it back to LA). Needless to say, the phone calls went on for the next few days. With each call came lots of apologies were sorry of the inconvenience this has caused you blah blah blah, but efforts ultimately went on deaf ears with very little to nothing being done to resolve my package bouncing back and forth across the US. November 4th: I talk to a gentleman at the LA hub asking why my package was not delivered. He mentions that the APO address cannot be delivered. I mentioned that I was aware of that fact and steps to change the address was initiated over two weeks ago. Once more, I give the man the address in Indiana. He says hell take care of it and package will be delivered on November 7th. November 7th: No package is delivered. November 8th: Customer rep tells me that they are having a difficult time locating my package in the warehouse. November 9th: I call the representative assigned to my case (International Package Resolution Group) to inquire into the package status. She tells me that the LA hub was not successful in finding the package and regrets to inform me that it is now lost. I tell her the contents was valued at over $3000 and that losing this item was not an option. She promises me that she will to have the hubs continue to locate my package. It felt like I was kicked in the stomach. November 10th: I request a trace be placed on the item. November 11th: The UPS web tracker was now showing that my package was delivered to Virginia. However, my parents are still in Indiana and no one is home to retrieve package. The address was changed from Virginia to Indiana 12 days prior. UPS was notified of this address change no less than four times. Thankfully, my mom called a trusted neighbor to pick up package and secure it until their arrival home. Ultimately, it took over 22 phone calls and they still failed to deliver the package to the correct destination. See for yourself the rollercoaster ride it went on: Tracking #: M1180195587

Great movie! Hollywood did it right this time. One of the most historically accurate films that I have ever seen - EVER! The director took a few minor artistic licenses in telling the story, but overall I was very impressed. For those that are a history buff like me, play the movie a second time with commentaries on. Very interesting. I ended up appreciating the movie even more afterwards. I'm surprised it didn't do better at the box office. What a shame.

Anyaheseyo krustyoldsarge! Camp Red Cloud here!

---------------- On 8/12/2004 8:25:19 AM HDBRbuilder wrote: Now here is the clincher: When I worked at Klipsch in the late 1970's, AAFES was also offering some of the Klipsch line at its stateside PX/BX locations...and through its AAFES catalogs. Some of the dealers within the Klipsch dealer network got peeved that, since they were located close by military installations, the sales of Klipsch products at discounted prices nearby on those military installations was eating into their possible profit margins. So, Klipsch agreed to drop its sales through those stateside AAFES locations in favor of its civilian dealer network locations. IMHO, this was a MAJOR marketing screw-up! WHY? Simply because it no longer gave soldiers the opportunity to even HEAR Klipsch products on stateside bases, and forced them to go elsewhere to demo the products. It also forced them to pay non-discounted prices to dealer network stores off-base, which led many of these soldiers to buy other manufacturers' products instead of Klipsch products!...OTHER manufacturers who declined to kiss-up to their dealer networks in this matter, but who still reaped profits from military sales by refusing to cave-in to the whining by their dealer networks! ---------------- I agree, that was a MAJOR maketing screw-up. I did see an RF-III at the Camp Casey PX about six months ago. I havent seen any here since. Ive been in the Army for 16 years and can count the number of times with one hand that Ive seen Klipsch available for sale at BX/PXs. Yet, almost every major installation will have a snazzy Bose display to attract new generations of the uninformed. If dealer whining was the reason for Klipsch dropping their line of speakers, then shame on Klipsch!!! The main advantage for soldiers to purchase items on military exchanges was the tax break. Accessibility to such items was reserved solely for the military serviceperson and their dependants. To deny a soldier this small benefit in favor of local dealer greed and monopolizing the market by limiting product availability is deplorable.

The Last Samurai was a good fantasy movie. Just don't expect to learn anything about Japanese history from it. Hollywood has truly butchered the actual events in the telling of this story. The Meiji government was made out as the "bad guy" while the samurai was propped up as honorable and good. Hardly the case; the samurai was the ruling military class for almost a thousand years, but it ruthlessly existed on the blood, sweat and tears of the other classes. It was 250 years of peace, the rise of the merchant class, a desire to modernize and open its borders to foreigners, and a movement to place the emperor back into a central position of power with the elimination of the Tokugawa shogunate that ultimately lead to the samurai's fall. In reference to Tom Cruise. Well, Tom was still being Tom. Despite the disillusionment in himself and his government, Toms character was nonetheless a Congressional Medal of Honor winner and a war hero. In less than a year, his character somehow becomes the darling of the Meiji emperor, the rebellious daimyo Katsumoto, and the wife and children of the very samurai he kills in the beginning of the movie. Not only that, but he manages to miraculously survive a suicidal attack that wipes out everyone else. And we wont even go into how he, a person that fought against the Japanese government, could then limp in and interrupt a major policy meeting between Japan and the US and ultimately influence its outcome. As Dr. Evil would say: Riiiiiight.

---------------- On 8/1/2004 5:18:30 AM Audible Nectar wrote: I personally have no problem with celebrities (or anyone else, for that matter) expressing political opinions. It is the attempts to silence them that I find disturbing. ---------------- I disagree. I don't find it disturbing at all. No one has tried to silence her. She was able to freely express her political opinion. And in response, the public freely expressed their opinion as did the owner of the casino in his decision to let her go. What's good for the goose ...

Hey m00n, I lived on Hawaii for several years. I intend to retire there eventually. My wife is still living there with her family while Im here in Korea. As many have already mentioned, its a beautiful island(s). Oahu is typically the default spot for most tourists. Many of the usual points of interests are Waikiki, the North Shore, Pearl Harbor, Polynesian Cultural Center, Hanauma Bay, etc. All of them are good if vacation time is limited. If you want an awesome view of Honolulu, then I would also recommend walking up Diamond Head. If you are into surfing like I am, then the North Shore is the place, but Waikiki is nice also. If youre into scuba, then my favorite spot was Tigers Cove also on the North Shore. Pearl Harbor is a favorite spot of mine. Every time I had relatives or friends that visited me on the island, Pearl was always one of the places to go. To date, Ive been there nine times and have never lost my reverence for this place. I even had the honor of raising the flag over the Arizona one morning during a ceremony. A must see spot. Being a Navy vet, thats probably a no brainer for you. If youre into history, then there is the Nu'uanu Pali where King Kamehamehas army either pushed or forced the Oahu warriors over the cliff. Its also a great view of the windward side. If you have additional time, I would also recommend the Big Island. Its the newest of the island chain and it looks it. Its very different than Oahu. Two massive volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, anchor the island. From the air, you can see huge tracts of old lava flows that cover the ground. Kilauea is currently active if you want to see a live volcano. A few soldiers and myself went to Kilauea in the 90s for sightseeing. From the roped off area in the distance you could see lava flowing into the ocean. Being the cocky dumb sonsof*****es that we were, we decided to go beyond the roped off area for a closer look. We got to within about 15 feet of actual lava flow. However, the heat was too intense to get any closer, not too mention the reality of how reckless we were finally caught up with us so we headed back to the rope line. Needless to say, the Park Ranger was waiting for us and gave us a huge lecture on how dumb we were. He threatened us with a fine, but let us off with a warning because of our military status. He was right, it was extremely foolish, but I have to admit it was an awesome experience. To the west of the Big Island, there is Kona that is very beautiful and great to scuba off. I had a friend that was an Army helicopter pilot that did range safety sweeps over a training area in the center of the island called PTA. One day he offered to fly me to a place called Kawaihae harbor for some logistical coordination in the area. The view of Mauna Kea and the north part of the island was fascinating. On approach to the harbor we noticed some construction going on. Upon landing, our arrival stirred up interest and concern as to why we were there. Turns out, the construction was the set of the Kevin Costner movie called Waterworld. Because we were in our uniforms and landed by aircraft, the set designer thought us important and gave us the royal tour of the place including seeing the Costners catamarans used in the movie. I never had the heart to tell them we were just wasting time and sightseeing. Too bad the movie turned out to be a flop. Well, Ive digressed enough. If you want to know some of the non-tourist spots frequented by locals you can contact me offline for further details.

Alien Face Hugger Iraqi Face Hugger

Fortunate Son - CCR Buffalo Soldiers - Bob Marley

On a lighter note, here is something we all can laugh at. http://www.plur.net/thisland.html

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones

Heil Moore! Leni Riefenstahl would be proud. I know, let's completely alter the truth, sling sh*t hoping something will stick, and make fun of the President at his expense for two hours and call it a powerful documentary. Move along little sheep, move along.

---------------- On 6/27/2004 7:52:25 AM Audible Nectar wrote: And with that, another rarity - agreeing with Ranger Six . But he is spot on here....the more one tries to apply control, the more complicated it becomes. It's like herding cats. ---------------- Damn, I don't know if I should kick your *** or shake your hand.

Sigh ... Its been a long time since Ive written here so I dont know what all the hullabaloo is about, but reading between the lines in other posts it seems pretty obvious that there is a lot of bad blood shed as of late. Moderators, I know this is your board and youve made it clear that you will rigidly enforce the house rules (that we all agreed too), but it seems to me that in your desire to keep things civil you have inadvertently sown the seeds of discontent through heavy-handed moderation. A long time ago, this forum was at its happiest when folks were freely allowed to discuss topics without constant fear of reprisal from moderators. Years ago, my ex gave me a book called Mars are from Venus or something to that effect and though I didnt completely read the entire book (maybe thats why we are not together ) I do recall a section about allowing your spouse rubber band time. In short, people need their space to stretch. Eventually, theyll snap back and everything will be back to normal. However, if you try to curtail their freedom (regardless of what that may be) then that is when all hell breaks out. This is what I see happening here. It reminds me of a quote I once heard, I cant remember who said it or exactly how it was said, but it went something like this: The more folks try to control the situation, the more likely it will slip through their fingers. Just some food for thought.

---------------- On 5/23/2004 10:07:48 PM m00n wrote: Anyone know if this is a TRUE story or not? I know there is a lot of Greek Mytholgy and what not written back then but I'm not sure if the story of Troy was mythology or real truth... ---------------- I haven't seen the movie yet, but this is what I do know about the story. The movie Troy is based on the epic tale called the Illiad by Homer (one of my favorite books). The existence of the city of Troy is real, but whether there was a great war between the Greeks and Trojans is still largely unproven. Personally, I believe the Trojan War actually did happen (minus the Gods). As with many tales of fiction, there often is a true story behind it. As far as the movie faithfully following the events of the book - NO! Too much artistic license went into adapting this story to the big screen. For one, the armor is complete fantasy. Two, in the book, Achilles was not present in the horse as it was pulled into the walls. And three, my favorite characters in the book are Achilles and Ajax, yet I hear that Ajax is killed by that puss Paris (not the case in the book) and Achilles who is played by Brad Pitt is poorly cast for this role (blue-eyed, blonde Greeks?) Puleeez! I've been waiting many many years for this story to come to the screen, but I'm not going into it with too many expectations.