Please, Mr. Postman...

Please Mr. Postman
Look and see,
If there's a letter
In your bag for me...

- The Marvelettes

It was 8:30am, Helsinki time. My alarm was set to wake me up in 15 mintues.

Doorbell.

Dammit. Who's bothering me now? (Lots of people come to the door, usually for Fabio). When I opened the door I couldn't have been more surprised.

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But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me account for lost time.

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I got out of the shower last Sunday night, put on my underwear, and walked into my bedroom (Fabio and I have a strict "underwear is okay" rule. I am not modest and neither, apparently, are the Italians). I sat down at my computer to turn on NPR. I would listen to it as I prepared for bed. As I reached for the mouse I noticed that the green light on my power plug was out. This is the plug that attaches to my computer port. This means that it is not getting power to the computer.

I check the status bar on the screen. Yep, it's running on battery. The plug must have come out of the wall, this happens all the time with the converter being so heavy.

It's plugged in.

I won't bore you with all the gory details. Sufficed to say, I spent the next 2 hours in my underwear banging, unscrewing, plugging, switching, etc. to try to get my adapter to work. Without it, I have my computer for another, let's see...oh, my God...3 hours. That will certainly not get me through the rest of the semester.

I call Antti, my computer-wise Finnish friend who, luckily for me, sleeps during the day, not the night. He says to order a new one from Apple Finland. Okay. I decipher the Finnish on the website and determine that it would be delivered in 3-4 weeks. That won't work. Apple US? They don't deliver to Finland. And if they did, it would take 3-4 weeks.

Quickly I get on Skype (the program I use to make international calls from my computer).

001 919 786 9998.

Wait...wait..........wait........................oh, sh--(pick-up: "Hello?") "Hey, mom! Problem:" (I explain)

"Go to the Apple store tonight (it is only 7:30pm in the US) at Crabtree and get this adapter and mail it to me please."

I call to check in the next day, using precious battery power. Crabtree Apple didn't have the adapter because the model is too old (my iBook is a 2002 and, in the Apple world, that puts it in with the "Golden Girls" crowd of electronic devices) So she goes to CompUSA. They have a general adapter that should fit the '02 iBook. Great.

I call again later, this time using my cell phone, since my computer battery is almost dead (I wanted to save some battery power in case of some sort of emergency where I would need to get a file from my computer. It proved smart, since I needed to e-mail myself the paper I had written on Winter Art in Finland).

"I'll FedEx it so it comes on Thursday" she says. It can't be all that expensive.

Can it?

But will it come to customs or the post office? I can get my kummi mother to drive me to customs if I have to, but I'd like to be able to walk 3 minutes to the post office. Customs is all the way across town, further than the bus goes.

"FedEx would come to your door."

"What if I'm not here. What would they do with it without someone here to sign? I don't know when on Thursday it would come and I have class during the day."

"Well, what if I..."

Silence.

The call was cut off.

001 919 786 9998.

No connection.

Check the balance on the Kolumbus PrePaid card.

Empty.

The overseas call wiped out somewhere between 5 and 8 euros from my phone card, leaving it completely empty. No calls until I buy a recharge card from the R-Kioski. No problem. Except that it's nearly midnight. Must wait until tomorrow. But I must get back into contact with mom.

I get on Skype long enough to message Tye downstairs. "Can I borrow your computer to Skype my mother?" She says sure.

Tye's room.

001 919 786 9998.

nothing. wait 10 minutes.

001 919 786 9998.

nothing. wait 10 minutes.

001 919 786 9998.

nothing. try the cell.

001 919 418 1490.

"Hello? I'm at the post office now."

Apparently it costs around $80 to send it Guaranteed Express to arrive on Thursday. Sending it Express instead, only $30. Should arrive next Tuesday. No problem. I'll write my paper in the computer lab on campus. Good night!


...


Wait.

I'm leaving for Lapland on Monday morning at 8. I'll be at the Norwegian border to the Arctic Ocean by midday Tuesday. I can't pick up the package. I'll have Fabio get it.

"Fabio, can you pick up a package for me that will (hopefully) come to the Posti on Tuesday?"

"They will not allow me to do thees. You must show your Passaport."

"Damn."

I guess I'll just have to go and get it the Monday after I return. Ah, well. No computer.

Or so I thought.

--------------------------

I go to the door this morning, groggy and annoyed. I look in the peep-hole. There is a short, mustached man at my door.

I'm thinking: Wussisguywant? Sumfinbroken?

I open the door.

He hands me a white package and a pen.

I sign, trying not to wet myself (two reasons for this: 1) I was really excited; and 2) I've been taking fish oil-omega 3 pills and they make me pee constantly and you know you always have to go when you first wake up anyway).

"Kiitos!"

"Ole hyva."

I shut the door.

I tear open the package.

Will it work? Will it work?

I open the adapter case.

Will it work? Will it work?
Will it work? Will it work?

I put on the correct plug and put it in the wall and attach it to the computer. POWER ON.

Will it work? Will it work?
Will it work? Will it work?
Will it work? Will it work?

The computer is on. Password. LOADING...PLEASE WAIT...IT HAS BEEN 3 MONTHS SINCE YOUR LAST--click CANCEL.

Check the status bar.

And then I saw the three best words, second only to "Dinner is served."

---BATTERY IS CHARGING---

And that,
as they say,
is that.

d