I mentioned recently that I liked "Syrup" on Netflix because it was bitingly good about corporate marketing. It was based on a novel by Max Barry. Reading over comments on IMDB I noted a lot of people wanted to see Barry's "Jennifer Government" made into a movie. In fact it had been optioned for a movie by Stephen Soderbergh and George Clooney but it never got made so the rights returned to Barry. The book is a satire about a future libertarian society and sounded good to me. Furthermore the audio book sample on Amazon sounded good too.
So on Monday since I was going over to nearby Concord anyway I stopped at Half Price Books to see if they had it (wasn't listed online but you never know how up to date that stuff is). No such luck though they did have Barry's "Syrup" and "Company". Used "Jennifer Government" sells from 1 cent on up. I spied online that another store in the area had it. The store in is another town just north of here and the store about 9 miles by the crow flies. Hell I went that far over to Concord. BUT the problem is that town is on the other side of the strait and you have to cross a bridge to get there, a toll bridge. And the toll is $5. So it was cheaper to order it online from that store since the book was $1 and shipping $2.75. Fine, so I ordered Monday and Tuesday got a email the book shipped. Said it would ship by DHL and arrive..... January 26th. Huh? Not only that it looked like it might take that long because it would go all the way to Texas and back. Huh? So I inquired and they wondered there I got the Texas info (must not read their mail templates too close). The book actually went to a sorting center in Oakland (it did say elsewhere that it would be delivered to a regional USPS sorting center by DHL). Okay and it was there by midnight, sorted by 5 AM. That was Wednesday. Then it went to the local post office which showed it arrived this morning (odd an extra day). And it arrived this afternoon. Things sure don't work like they used to. PS: another thing I mentioned recently was waiting for Comcast to send my refund since they charge in advance and they owed me some prorated fees back. I canceled in early October and still hadn't by yesterday seen that check though I had read you might have to prompt them to send it out. So I went on their chat and they looked into it and said someone would call me. They did this afternoon. Seems the check went out in early November. I never received it. So they stopped that check and are sending a new one. Things don't work the way they used to.
