First Arrival

ENTRY 0009



Okay, I have probably gone overboard with the "First" titles.  On the other hand, I have probably run out of reasons to do another entry with "First" in the title after this.

When I saw the increase in my feedback score on Sunday, I took that as a sign that I would be receiving at least one of my my purchases this week.  The only question remaining was how soon that would be.

Yesterday, I went to the post office.  I thought the chances were marginal, but I wanted to see if the package had arrived.  I inserted my mailbox key in the lock, opened, the door, and looked inside.  Along with a few assorted pieces of mail, there was a key -- a sign that I had a package too big to fit into my mailbox.

My post office -- probably most post office branches, now that I think about it -- has a bank of lockers for large items.  If a mailbox customer receives something that will not fit in their mailbox (and believe me, the people at the post office will do everything humanly possible to put it in there if they can), they put the item in one of the lockers, and put the key in the mailbox.  I have to admit, seeing a key in my mailbox gives me the same sort of thrill that waking up Christmas morning did when I was a kid.

I took everything out, closed and locked the door, then went to the lockers, checking to see which locker matched the key.  I inserted the key, gave it a twist, and opened the door.  Inside was a large Priority Mail envelope, which I suspected (quite correctly) had been reinforced by a piece of stiff cardboard.  (This of course, was done to ensure that the postal employees would not ignore the large red "Please Do Not Bend" sticker on the envelope.

Inside were the issues of SciFi Now and Doctor Who Insider that I mentioned purchasing in Entry 0006.  I didn't do much more than give the items a cursory inspection.  I made sure that the correct items were sent, and that they were as advertised in the listings.  (The more detailed inspections came later, when I got home.)

Sometime later that afternoon, I went to the library to use one of their computers.  I sent an email to the seller, and I signed on to Ebay to leave feedback on the transaction(s).

I'm satisfied with the way things turned out.  One slight gap was filled in (SciFi Now still has a big gap; more on that in another entry), and I have a replacement for one of the items that I lost last month.


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Now, Insider

ENTRY 0006


I've actually had a few successful conclusions in rapid succession.  I've just been a little busy with other matters to write about them until now.

The issues of Asimov's weren't the only magazines that needed to be replaced.  Fortunately for me, these would be a little easier to replace, since they were more recent magazines.  One of those was the first issue of Doctor Who Insider, a magazine that premiered earlier this year.  (As of this writing, issue #5 is the current issue on the stands.)

My first thought was to contact the publisher to see if they had back issues available.  But while DWI is geared toward an American audience, the publisher is in England, so acquiring another copy of DWI #1 that way was not the best option.  Once again, Ebay proved to be the better option. Searching "doctor who insider" yielded an abundance of results, and several of those were of the first issue.

At the same time, I was also doing a few searches for issue #50 of the British magazine Sci Fi Now.  I had missed the issue when it appeared on the stands a few months ago.  Oh, I had seen it; I had just miscalculated when issue #51 would be on the stands to replace it.  (I've done that with more than a few magazine issues, hence the need to fill in a few gaps here and there.)  I did some double-checking, and I found one seller who was selling both magazines.  The good news -- he was willing to combine purchases into one package to save on shipping.  The better news -- when I asked if he accepted payment other than PayPal, he said yes.  He also had multiple copies of both magazines.

I waited another day or two, and decided that I wasn't going to find a better opportunity.  So, I clicked the "Buy It Now" button for both items, and sent a message asking for the combined total and mailing address.  He sent the information, I got the money order, and it went in the mail.

And once again, it's a matter of waiting.  I have a feeling that over the next week or two, I shall be quite pleased when I go to the post office to check my mailbox.


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