Verify Twice, Ship Once

With our commitment to our customers, it is very important that our product arrives on time and we work hard to ship orders according to our customer's preferences. We ship personalized chocolate favors and gifts all over the country and every state has one thing in common, addresses can be tricky.

One factor that will cause a shipping delay is an incorrect address so verification is a big part of the shipping process. UPS requires addresses to be formatted a certain way and include proper spacing and suffixes such as St. or Ave. The parts of the address must also appear in a certain order on the label; apartment, suite and floor numbers are essential. Our shipping software alerts us with a suggestion to correct potential issues and then we investigate.

After shipping thousands of packages I've learned how UPS likes an address to look. I've also learned that different areas of the country have different ways of writing their own addresses. For instance, in the New York City area the street number will have a hyphen in the middle such as 42-34 Elm St. UPS does not like punctuation in the address fields so I know to take this out. In the Chicago area they write the street name without the suffix like 4234 Elm and leave off the St. In parts of Wisconsin the address is based on direction from a point. For example, N2300W3345 may be someone's street number. Instances like these are easy to format.

It is not as easy to fix an address with an incorrect zip code, city name or state. When this happens the address is usually verified with our shipping software, the USPS database and an internet search. If we are not confident that we've found a match, we call the customer to be certain.

We go through great measures to verify the addresses of every order that comes through our building. This is a major part of the shipping process and is necessary to ensure the safe and timely delivery of your products.

Who Wants Cake?

I have written previously about my fondness for the pronunciation Saskatchewan. Lucky for me, we shipped another order to this province. This time we shipped an order to Moose Jaw. The customer purchased our Classic Hereheis design. Moose Jaw is located in south-central Saskatchewan on the Moose Jaw River. It has a population of approximately 35,000 people. Saying the name to myself would cause me to have a picture of a moose jaw stuck in my mind for quite a long time. Seeing the image in my mind would cause me to think of many different things. Usually, my initial thought travels down a road that is filled with many turns and tangents. Ultimately I end up thinking about a topic that has nothing to do with a moose, jaw or city in Canada.

Just recently it did cause me to think of something. I went to a concert last summer to see the band Cake. I believe they are a very good band. John McCrea, the singer of the band will play an instrument on many of the songs. The instrument is known as a vibraslap. The instrument is a piece of wire in the shape of a U with a wooden box on one end and a ball on the other end. To play the vibraslap, you hold the wire and strike the ball. This causes a prolonged rattle to be produced. The wooden box on the other end of the wire is filled with loose pins and rivets. Striking the ball causes the loose pins to vibrate against the wooden box. I remember John McCrea telling a story on the origins of the instrument. He told the audience that the instrument he was playing is just a modern version of the jawbone. The jawbone is just what the name implies. It is an animal jaw that is completely dried. When you strike the jaw, the teeth would vibrate in the sockets. The problem with the jawbone, is that bones tend to break when repeatedly struck with sticks.

Martin Cohen, who was an engineer with an affinity for latin music, was given advice from a studio drummer named Bob Rosengarden. Rosengarden told Cohen,"If you want to make some money, make a jawbone that doesn't break." The rest is history. I am glad he did. Without the vibraslap, these songs would not be so great; Multiple Cake songs, "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne, "Orange Crush" by R.E.M., "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith, "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix, "Natural One" by Folk Implosion, "Nuthin' But A G Thang" by Dr. Dre, "Fame" by David Bowie, "Would?" by Alice in Chains and "Feelin' Alright" by Grand Funk Railroad.

The River Runs Wild

A couple months ago, we shipped an order to Canada. It is not uncommon for us to ship orders to Canada. I would say on average we ship between 5 to 10 orders a week there. We ship to all 13 Provinces. This time, we shipped an order to Saskatchewan. This is by far my favorite to pronounce. The city was called Swift Current. Swift Current is located in southwest Saskatchewan and has approximately 15,000 residents. Like a lot of cities in North America, the name of the city has its origins from the first settlers of North America. The First Nations people camped along the creek that flows through what is now Swift Current. The Cree named the creek "kisiskâciwan," which means "it flows swiftly." When early fur traders saw the creek, they named it "Riviere Au Courant," which means "Swift Current." It has also been referred as "Strong Current Creek." The name that eventually took hold as Swift Current.

Bodies of water with swift currents can mean different things to different people. They can be good for transporting goods, they can be good for fishing, they can be good for sight seeing and they can also be good for recreation. One way they are good for recreation is white water rafting. There are many different rivers to go white water rafting. The Colorado, The Rogue, The Salmon and many more. The only time I went white water rafting was on the Gauley River. The Gauley River is located in West Virginia. The Gauley winds through West Virginia and eventually meets the New River to form the Kanawha River. The part of the river that is most exciting is the part of the river known as the Gauley River National Recreation Area.

Summersville Dam creates Summersville Lake behind the Gauley River. Beneath the dam the Gauley River runs. Most of the year the Gauley river rises and falls depending on rainfall and melting of snow. The Friday after Labor Day, Gauley Season begins. For six weekends the Army Corps of Engineers does a series of controlled releases of water from the dam. The release causes the river to flow between 2400 and 2800 cubic feet per second. This causes the river to provide great white water rafting. The Gauley has three sections that are frequently rafted. The Upper (most difficult) and the Middle and Lower (less difficult).

The first day of my rafting adventure I attempted the Middle/Lower run. This was my first time ever rafting and I was very nervous. I had heard horror stories and watched videos online to give me a healthy fear of rafting. The trip started in the morning. It was a beautiful day. It was sunny and around 70 degrees. The rapids were mostly class III and IV. They were fun and challenging, but I never felt like I was in danger. Our guide was great and we had a great day. The second day was when we were going to tackle the Upper Gauley. After my first day of rafting, I felt confident in our abilities. I did not feel fear, but I was very anxious. The Upper Gauley is known for its 5 class V rapids. They are named Insignificant, Pillow Rock, Lost Paddle, Iron Ring and Sweet's Falls.

Our trip started much earlier this day at 6:30 in the morning. We had breakfast before our trip. I am pretty sure we left our cabin at 5:00 a.m., which meant I woke up at 4:30. I am not particularly fond of mornings, but my anxiety caused me to not sleep very good. We pushed away from the starting point, just below the dam. There was no turning back now. Everything was going along fine until the first class V rapid. It was named Insignificant. Before we entered the rapid, our guide informed us to swim hard left if we fell out of the boat to avoid the giant undercut rock on the right side of the river. We were making our way through the rapid and our guide's voice became very loud and excited. The next thing I know I am in the water. I am trying to remember all of the safety tips I was given about swimming in rapids. I was scared to death. All I was trying to do was swim left as hard as I could. All I could see is the giant undercut rock I am trying to avoid. I was headed right for it. This is one of the times in my life when I thought I really was going to die. I closed my eyes and then I was past the rock. I saw the raft of someone else in our group and I swam toward it. They pulled me in and I was terrified. I was not in my boat, so I did not know if my friends were ok.

When we were united, all of my friends were ok. 3 of the 4 of us had fallen in. There was someone on our boat who was not ok. An older gentleman, who resembled Jerry Garcia, seriously hurt his back. We had to let him out of the boat a little farther down the river. Twenty minutes into our journey and all I want to do is not fall out of the boat. Then, two class V rapids later at Lost Paddle, I fell in again. I had overheard a guide tell his boat to make sure not to fall out here, because it was very shallow and dangerous. Half way through the rapid our boat was filling with water and becoming hard to manuever. Our raft went head first into a rock and it knocked me right out of the boat. I was quickly pulled back in. After that all I wanted was for the trip to be over. We made it through the rest of the trip ok and it is a great memory I have. The more time passes, the less scared I am about rafting the Gauley River again. We will have to see.

The Stars at Night, are Big and Bright...

A couple months ago, a customer placed an order for 30 of our Circled Daisies (Item# WT14). This item is a great way to celebrate your wedding. The order was delivered to a person who lived in the town of Schertz, TX. Schertz, TX is a great place to get married.

Schertz, TX is the largest suburban city of San Antonio, TX. In 2009, CNN/Money Magazine named Schertz the 39th best small town to live in the U.S.A. If you think about how many small towns are in this country, that is a great accomplishment. The city had a population of 18,694 in the 2000 census. The population, as of 2008, is 31,788. It is definitely a city where people would like to live and the population growth reflects that.

The thing I like most about the town is the name. You pronounce the name Shirts. I love shirts. One of the ways we judge someone is by the shirt they are wearing. The shirt you are wearing says a lot about the person you are. Most times, the occasion will dictate the style of shirt to wear. Most people do not wear tank tops to a funeral. Most people do not wear tuxedos to the beach. However, it seems there is always someone who seems to be dressed inappropriately.

A casual event with no dress code is the perfect place to judge someone based on their shirt. I am going to use an outdoor barbecue with approximately 30 people attending as the setting for our comparisons. A dress shirt and dress pants indicates a professional person who wants everyone to know they are a professional. This person will be bringing wine, scotch and cigars to the party. They really do not want to be attending, but their girlfriend or wife is making them go. However, a person could wear this who is not a professional but wants people to think he is, or to help him pick up girls.

Wearing a polo shirt could mean a few things. It could be a person who believes in wearing a collared shirt at all occasions. This person is very regimented and by the book. It could be the person just finished a round of golf and came straight to the party. It could be the person really likes polo shirts and wants people to think he cares about looking nice. I personally really like polo shirts. Especially if they have horizontal stripes. It could also be what his girlfriend or wife picked out, and he is doing what he is told.

If someone wears a tank top, often referred to as a "wife beater," or sleeveless shirt, it says a lot. This person loves attention. It usually means one of two things. They work out a lot and want people to see how ripped they are. They have tattoos they feel are the greatest ever and want people to see them. Both of these people are generally loud and confrontational. There will be a handful of people who like this person, but most at the party will not.

If there is a person at the party not wearing a shirt at all, there will be problems. This person does not want attention, they need attention. This person needs you to see their six pack abs. This person definitely has a tattoo. Usually something tribal, something "tough," something declaring where they are from and something sentimental to show their softer side. There is a 83% chance this person will end up fighting someone. There is a 96% chance this person will drink too much. There will definitely be an incident involved with their exit.

I would say around half of the people at the party will be wearing a T-shirt. A T-shirt can mean many things. A good T-shirt will get you a lot of comments and can be used as a conversation piece. I understand everything you buy is a product and someone is making money from that purchase. People should wear what they like. A good number of people will be wearing a solid color shirt with nothing but a company logo. This person usually is trying to follow a trend. They probably saw the shirt on their reality show of choice or in their favorite celebrity gossip magazine. This person is generally nice, but you feel they are not being themselves. A sports team T-shirt is very common. It could be the person is obsessed with sports and only owns sports T-shirts. It could be the person is very loyal and supports their favorite team as much as they can. It could be the team on the shirt is doing well at the moment and the person is jumping on the bandwagon. A plain T-shirt is a good choice, in my opinion. This person is usually secure and has nothing to prove with their wardrobe. However, super sized plain T-shirts have become popular over the last several years. This person could be following a trend. I love music T-shirts with bands I like. I used to wear concert T-shirts a lot to prove I liked the band before most other people did. I try not to do that these days. If you start to like a band after their 5th album and they are on the radio now, it is ok. I like to support the bands I like to ensure they make music for a long time. Wearing T-shirts that are meant to be humorous are also popular. Shirts can be funny for different reasons. People can wear shirts that are unpopular in an attempt to be silly. People can wear a shirt that is the same as a funny character.

Most people wear funny shirts that are designed to be funny. There are many stores that sell funny T-shirts. If you really want to find a funny shirt, the best place to look is the internet. There are numerous online stores that sell funny T-shirts. My favorite is Threadless. Threadless does not only sell funny T-shirts. They sell shirts with designs submitted by individuals. Then the designs are voted on by the Threadless community. They will produce shirts with the winning design. When designs sell out, they may or may not re-issue that design. This keeps the designs progressing and not having the same styles over and over. I believe there are two types of people who wear funny shirts. If a shirt is playful and clever, I think the person wearing the shirt is playful and clever. If the shirt is meant to offend and shock, the person is just trying to get a reaction from people. This is the person that will make fun of others rather than give humorous insight.

Next time you are at a party, check out the shirts people are wearing. See if the shirt reflects their personality. I made these observations generally about men. Women are different when it comes to shirts. Hopefully, we ship another order to Schertz, TX so I can talk about the shirts women wear.

Cut and Paste

A few weeks ago, a customer ordered 150 of our HERETHEYARE assorted miniature wrapped candy bars. The customer who ordered the candy bars lived in an area in Louisiana. This area is Cut Off, Louisiana. This area, historically known as La Coupe, is not a town. It is not a city. It is not a village, township or borough. It is what is known as a census-designated place. This means it is a place that is not incorporated. That means the area does not have its own governing body, but resembles a city, town or village. It is called a census-designated place (cdp) for the purposes of record keeping. The boundaries of this place have no legal status. It is set up merely to count the inhabitants of a certain area for the census that occurs every ten years in America. This place has around 5,600 people who reside in the area designated merely for the purposes of counting. This place is located on the Bayou Lafourche in Lafourche Parish.

I find it interesting this area is known as a census-designated place. I also find their name interesting. I don't know how the residents feel, but I don't know if I would like to have my census-designated place named Cut Off. Every time I am cut off I am upset. If I am cut off mid sentence, I am mad. If my face is cut off of a picture, I am upset. If I am cut off while driving my car, I am really mad. If I get cut off from certain perks and benefits, that is not good. If I am cut off in a bar, things are definitely not going my way. If my concentration of people designated for the purposes of counting was cut off, I think I would be livid. What were they cut off from? What did they do to deserve being cut off? If I lived there, I would demand to be cut back into whatever they were cut from. With the advances computers have made, you can cut and paste pretty much anything. I would call right click my area and paste myself back in. It is rude and arrogant to cut someone off when they are talking, driving, enjoying cocktails or being part of a picture. It is really rude and arrogant to do that to a census-designated place. Please Louisiana, paste them back in.

Dexter, Dexter and Dexter

A couple of weeks ago, a person sent one of our Sweet Affections gift box as a gift to someone in Dexter, Oregon. Yesterday, someone from Dexter, Michigan ordered 100 of CARSON's HERESHEIS bars. It is not uncommon for different states to have cities with the same name. Most of the time I don't notice when I send packages to cities in different states. When I send packages to a city that shares its name with one of my favorite tv shows, I take notice.

If you are not familiar, Dexter is a television program that airs on the Showtime premium channel. The show is based on the Dexter series of books by Jeff Lindsay. The tv show follows Dexter Morgan. Dexter is a blood spatter anylist working for the Miami, FL police department. Dexter also happens to be a serial killer. His victims, however, are people who "deserve" it. I am sure every serial killer believes their victims deserve it, but Dexter follows a certain code taught to him by his father Harry. Harry was a police officer, who found Dexter at a crime scene and adopted him. Harry discovered that Dexter had tendencies and urges to kill living things. Instead of having Dexter harm innocent people, he trained Dexter to only kill people who were problems in society but also how to not get caught.

The scenario that we sent two packages to cities named Dexter within a couple of weeks got me thinking. Which one of these cities would Dexter kill?

Dexter, Oregon is an unincorporated community located in Lane County. It is located near Dexter Lake. Dexter, OR has a population of around 2250. A post office was established in the area in 1872. The post office was originally called Butte Disappointment. The name was changed to Dexter in 1875.

Dexter, Michigan is a town of around 3200 residents. It is located along the Huron River in Washtenaw County. The town is located just minutes from Ann Arbor.

Both towns of Dexter seem to be nice small towns where someone would like to raise a family. They do not seem to present a threat to society or causing harm to others. They do not seem to be getting away with crimes. This is good for the towns and for the residents of the towns. This is not so good for me however. I do not like the episodes where Dexter does not kill anyone. One of my favorite parts of the show is when a despicable member of society gets their comeuppance. In real life, I do not believe vigilante justice has a place in society. I do not think one person has the ability to judge the morality and validity of others and then act on their beliefs. However, in the realm of fiction I love the idea of someone taking things into their own hands to rid the world of degenerates.

One is the Loneliest Number

A couple weeks ago, we sent an order to someone who lived in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Creve Coeur is located in west St. Louis County and is a suburb of the city of St. Louis. Around 16,500 people call Creve Coeur home. The town was incorporated in December of 1949 and got its name from Creve Coeur Lake, which is located nearby. The name Creve Coeur is derived from the French words meaning "broken heart."

Having a broken heart is a terrible feeling. Most people experience a broken heart at times throughout their lives. Coping with a broken heart is hard to do and each person handles it differently. Some people try staying busy. Some people do nothing. Some people stop eating. Some people eat more. Some people exercise. Some people drink. There is no fool-proof plan or a set amount of time that will allow you to heal.

The way I handle a broken heart is to be alone and listen to music. For some reason sad and depressing music helps me deal with heartache. There are certain songs that seem like they were written for you and your situation. Even the cheesy songs from bands like Foreigner, Journey, Air Supply, Poison and Chicago seem to make sense and you lower your standards and actually listen to them. The only thing that seems to cure a broken heart is time. As time goes on the pain decreases and you meet new people, and hopefully you learn from the experience and use it for future relationships.

MAHONEY!

Not too long ago CARSON wrappedhersheys.com sent a package of personalized candy to a customer who lived in Guttenberg, New Jersey. The town of Guttenberg is home to around 11,000 people. That may not sound like much, but when you consider the town has a total area of 0.2 square miles and is only four blocks wide, that is a lot of people in a little space. The population density of Guttenberg is 56,012 people per square mile, making it one of the most densely populated places in the country. Guttenberg is located on the other side of the Hudson River from Manhattan. Thirty six percent of Guttenberg's residents work in New York City. These are all interesting facts about the town.

The most important fact is the town shares its name with the greatest actor of the 1980's, Steve Guttenberg. Has there been a more accomplished actor? What has he not done in movies? He has been a cop (Police Academy 1,2,3 and 4) and a father (Three Men and a Baby and Three Men and a Little Lady). He found the fountain of life (Cocoon 1 and 2). He survived a nuclear holocaust (The Day After). As an actor he has appeared in sixty projects including movies and TV. That is a lot of work. He may not be a big hit with film critics, but I will salute the man who created Johnny 5 in the movie Short Circuit. Seriously, does it get any better than Carey Mahoney playing jokes on Lt. Harris in Police Academy? I think not!

Do geese see God?

Today I shipped an order of three hundred minis to Capac, Michigan. Capac is located in Mussey Township inside St. Clair County. The village of Capac has a population of around 2000. Capac was founded by a group of men led by George R. Funstan and Judge DeWitt C. Walker in 1857. Capac was incorporated as a village in 1873. Most importantly, the word Capac is a palindrome. With my name being Bob, that excites me:

• Bob, level Bob.
• I love me, vol. I.
• I saw I was I.
• Was it a cat I saw? Was it a rat I saw? Was it a bat I saw?
• Was it Eliot's toilet I saw?
• Yawn-Madonna fan? No damn way!
• Yo Bob, mug a gumbo boy.
• Sir, I soon saw Bob was no Osiris.
• Norma is as selfless as I am, Ron.
• Madam in Eden, I'm Adam.
• Lisa Bonet ate no basil.
• God saw I was a dog.
• Dog-- no poop on God.
• Dog, as a devil deified, lived as a god.
• Dennis sinned.
• Delia saw I was ailed.
• Bob;Did Anna peep? Anna: Did Bob?
• A Toyota's a Toyota.
• A Santa lived as a devil at NASA.
• Gary knits a stinky rag.
• Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog.
• I prefer pi.
• Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak.
• Lepers repel.
• Mr. owl ate my metal worm.
• So, Ida, adios!

Little Johnnie Sando

Recently, when I shipped an order to Sandwich, Illinois I knew I had a city to write about. There are so many sandwiches in the world today, the possibilities could be endless. Unfortunately I could not come up with anything good to write about for Sandwich, Il. The town did not get its name because the people really liked sandwiches or because they produced a lot of sandwiches. It was named because a congressman wanted to name the town after his hometown of Sandwich, New Hampshire. I was planning to find a new city to write about until I noticed the name of the man who named the town. His name was Long John Wentworth.

Long John is such a cool and weird nickname. Long John is a style of underwear, a kind of bike, a donut and a nickname for people named John. Famous Long Johns are Long John Silver (both a fictional pirate and a restaurant) golfer Long John Daly, radio host Long John Nebel and blues legend Long John Baldry. I personally do not call anyone Long John or know anyone who goes by Long John, although I know plenty of Johns. Maybe that is because a common nickname for John is Jack. That nickname I do not understand at all. Johnnie or John John I understand. My name is Robert so I can be called Bob, Rob, Bobby, Robbie, Bobert or Bob-O. All of those are a variation of my original name. Jack only shares one letter with John and is the same amount of letters. I think people should stop calling Johns Jack and start calling them Long John.