- February 11: Order pins from small business website.
- February 18: Shipping label printed, USPS awaiting item.
- February 27: e-mail the company, politely asking if the box was misplaced somewhere, as it has been over two weeks since I placed the order, and one since the label was printed.
- March 2: Receive e-mail apologizing, they don't know what happened, they are sending a replacement.
- March 9: Replacement shipping label printed, USPS awaiting item.
- March 10: Item received at USPS.
- March 16: The day on which I would have arrived at the pin shop if I had started walking there when I ordered the pins.
- March 17: Pins show up in the mail. Yay!
- The end?? No, of course not!
- April 1: Artemis II launches from Kennedy Space Center
- April 6: Artemis II crew surpasses the record for farthest human space flight and travels around the far side of the moon
- April 10: Artemis II crew returns to Earth after their record-setting journey to the moon.
- April 11: Artemis II crew returns to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
- I receieve an e-mail that the original pin box has been received by the post office.
- April 16: Item marked as Delivered At Mailbox.
- No pins in mailbox.
- This happens sometimes, the mail carrier forgets a package and brings it the next day, or it winds up one street over at the house that shares my same house number.
- April 17: Still no pins in mailbox.
- April 18: The day I would have returned back home if I had walked to the pin shop and then turned around to walk back.
I'm all for supporting small businesses, and yeah 'we went to the moon faster than these pins could get to me' is apples-to-oranges, but I'm justified in finding this ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS, right?