ETA first week of November.
Yes, that is correct, at long last, I have finally heard from the shipping company--my things are in England, and have cleared customs (who want me to pay £20.00 for the privilege of having my boxes X-rayed). They tell me that there is a truck leaving London for Italy next week, and may they put my things on it to be delivered to me? Yes, Please! It has been 17.5 weeks since the Tassie movers picked up the boxes. I didn't miss them the first 3.5 weeks, as I was traveling. I'm glad they didn't arrive during the next 11 weeks, as I didn't have an apartment of my own into which to put them. But for the past 3 weeks I've really wanted my stuff! It is getting cooler at night, soon I'll want my doonas. They are being shipped. I like to cook, it would be nice to have more than one pot. In the boxes. There are books I'd like to read. Being shipped. More costumes for events would be good. In the boxes. You get the picture. But now, at long last, I've got a working e-mail address for the shipping company, and they a no longer trying to send me messages to a hotmail account which doesn't exist (at least I don't think there is a hotmail account comprised of my first and last names separated by a dot. My U Milano account is in that format, but "unimi.it" doesn't look anything like "hotmail.com"). I am so excited--my things will be here soon. Well, probably only if I use a generous definition of "soon".
In more immediate definitions of "soon", I need to get more tiny gold capsules filled and welded shut "soon". I found out today that no one else needs the pressure apparatus in which my current experiment is running, so we are going to leave this one running till we've got the next one ready to load. Alas, I don't yet have more capsules filled. I had meant to do that yesterday morning, but the morning got away from me, and then it was time for Italian class (which went *much* better this week--given my hearing problems, I am *much* happier when I can *see* the words as well as hear them), after which there was just time to make some food and eat before heading out to Dance Practice (which was much fun!). So I tried this afternoon to fill them. The filling part is no problem, but I'm still having major issues with the welding step. I got the first one ready to weld, and instead of melting a tiny bit to seal the end, it melted a big bit and left a gaping hole through which one can see the internal powder. So I tried again, with a slightly lower voltage, in case the problem is more from the welder being set too high than the powder getting in the way. Same problem. So I started over sealing the bottom end of a new capsule. This is when my boss came in, and after talking with him, we agreed that I'd wait to try to fill the new ones till morning, when he can observe what I'm doing and see if he can correct whatever the problem is. I was pleased that when he suggested I try a longer capsule next time I was able to report that, indeed, the new one I was just starting is, in fact, longer than the ones which didn't work--I'd already thought of that potential cure on my own.
Hopefully I'll get this technique down to a routine soon, and catch up on the things I'm meant to be doing for work. I fear I've not been the best of company for clovis_t with my stress about not getting enough done and wanting to have a life in addition to work, but fearing that the things I've been doing for fun are interfering with my getting things accomplished for work...
In more immediate definitions of "soon", I need to get more tiny gold capsules filled and welded shut "soon". I found out today that no one else needs the pressure apparatus in which my current experiment is running, so we are going to leave this one running till we've got the next one ready to load. Alas, I don't yet have more capsules filled. I had meant to do that yesterday morning, but the morning got away from me, and then it was time for Italian class (which went *much* better this week--given my hearing problems, I am *much* happier when I can *see* the words as well as hear them), after which there was just time to make some food and eat before heading out to Dance Practice (which was much fun!). So I tried this afternoon to fill them. The filling part is no problem, but I'm still having major issues with the welding step. I got the first one ready to weld, and instead of melting a tiny bit to seal the end, it melted a big bit and left a gaping hole through which one can see the internal powder. So I tried again, with a slightly lower voltage, in case the problem is more from the welder being set too high than the powder getting in the way. Same problem. So I started over sealing the bottom end of a new capsule. This is when my boss came in, and after talking with him, we agreed that I'd wait to try to fill the new ones till morning, when he can observe what I'm doing and see if he can correct whatever the problem is. I was pleased that when he suggested I try a longer capsule next time I was able to report that, indeed, the new one I was just starting is, in fact, longer than the ones which didn't work--I'd already thought of that potential cure on my own.
Hopefully I'll get this technique down to a routine soon, and catch up on the things I'm meant to be doing for work. I fear I've not been the best of company for clovis_t with my stress about not getting enough done and wanting to have a life in addition to work, but fearing that the things I've been doing for fun are interfering with my getting things accomplished for work...