Travels with The Rayman

My, today has been challenging because of “The Great Convergence”.  Let me just recount the events of the day.

Arose at 6:15 a.m.   Went to move The Dog House from our RV park location to a storage location.  We are now officially spending the nights at the skinny house (SH).   Cheaper to store than to camp.  The move including about an hour’s drive in morning traffic, weaving and dodging traffic all the way to Tualatlin from Troutdale.   The RV storage place has a command center.  That’s where Rayman disappeared for about 20 minutes to sign countless forms, present proof of insurance…etc.  Then from there, we drove a couple of miles to the actual storage lot.  There was a kiosk with a keypad and Rayman endeavored to put in his pin that he had just furnished to the command center.  It didn’t work.  He had to call.  He had chosen his phone number but he didn’t hit star first.  Oh, well, that was a precursor to what followed.  We parked the RV.   And rushed back to SH because we had my cousin’s husband standing guard as deliveries were expected.  Good thing because the chairs arrived first while he was there. 

What else was expected?  A package from Williams Sonoma, a package from Amazon, our new TV, the security service ADT, and the DishTV people. 

The TV was due yesterday but we received a call saying that they were moving delivery to this a.m.  When this a.m. came and went, Rayman drove to Best Buy to find out what happened to the TV because I called the local store and was on hold for 15 minutes before hanging up in disgust.  While he was gone, the ADT people showed up.  No sooner had they arrived when Rayman called to report that the TV was on the truck.  The store contracts out deliveries.  They could not reach the truck company.  The supervisor of the truck company did not answer.  It was organized chaos.  Rayman developed a very bad headache.  He came back with news that the TV was on the truck but no one could tell us when it might arrive. 

AS I mentioned, the ADT people were here.  Have you ever ordered home security?  It is high tech.  It requires a special word which must be remembered for verification when an emergency occurs.  It requires two different passwords.  More on that later.

So, we had purchased a mattress for our RV and when we received it before leaving on this trip, we decided we really didn’t need it but it was so expensive to return, we kept it.  It was in the garage.  Well, we decided after buying SH that we could use that mattress.  So, I spent a couple of hours on the UPS website arranging for shipment from our beach bungalow to our SH.  When I hit ship, something went wrong and the order never took.  This was a sign.  So, today I was resolved amid the chaos to try FedEx.  Actually, I signed up for an account and thought I had arranged the shipment.  But Fedex never showed up today.  So, I was actually working on why that was the case.  In the middle of discussing the situation with FedEx, the ADT people wanted to teach us how to use the system.  I asked Rayman to go and deal with it as I was on the phone.  He did.  He chose pins.  After my call, I joined then and as I was being taught how to use the system, it required Rayman to enter the pin.  IT DIDN”T WORK.  How many times has that happened to you?  Many for me in the privacy of my own home.  This however, involved two installers watching him forget the pin that he just entered.  Poor RAyman.  He was so flustered from the Best Buy experience, I think he just drew a blank. 

The other thing is that the guy that taught us spoke at breakneck speed and it was hard to follow.  I commented that they were probably going to have a beer and laugh about how dumb we were.  They didn’t deny it.  Just sayin.

So, right as the ADT people left, the TV arrived.  We are mounting the TV over the fireplace.  This requires a gizmo that tilts the TV.  Screws were missing.  Off to Best Buy we went.  We left with an HDMI cord.  No screws.  Final solution?  The screwed were included with the mounting gizmo.  Oh, and on the way to the Best Buy store Rayman got lost and this involved about a 15 minute detour which increased his headache.   The project was abandoned.  We opted for restaurant dining instead.

Epilogue:  The TV is mounted, the wifi is installed, the home security is activated.  It only took a week and a day.  We are fully wired and ready to roll!!!