New snail mail address, and other things

[giza]

Well, I got my first ever Post Office box earlier today. The cost is a whopping $35 for 6 months, which is much cheaper than The UPS Store, which charges something like $120 for 6 months. So I just saved about $80. My new address is:

Douglas T. Muth
P.O. Box 1171
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
USA

The name of the town is pronounced "Bal-a Kin-wood". No, I don't know why it's spelled that way.

I'm thinking of sending myself a few postcards with strange names on them, to see if they get delivered. I think a few cards to, "Bill Clinton", "Saddam Hussein", and "I stole this postcard" should work. I wonder if the post office will deliver them all to my box? :-)

In other news...

Wolf Roams City Streets - Someone was raising a wolf here in Philadelphia. It got loose and was roaming the street. Apparently it was quite happy letting people pet it. Heh.

Fotosafari Augsburg - This is a virtual tour of the city of Augsburg in Germany. It was put together by my good friend kiza. On a related note, I received an e-mail some time ago by someone living in Austria with the same last name as me stating that she had a document about the origins of our family name, and that it originated in the very same town of Augsburg. Fascinating.

Comments

[bikerwalla.livejournal.com]

Isn't it Bala Cynwyd?

[technomom]

Because there is no soft c in the Celtic languages, and that's a Celtic name. I don't care what Boston basketball fans think.

I continue paying more for a box at The UPS Store due to security concerns. There have been repeated cases of people being able to walk into a USPS office, ask for the name and physical address of a PO box holder, and get that information without a subpoena or anything else. They didn't even have to show any ID!

The UPS Store employees have been FAR better about protecting their customers' privacy. I've tested them myself at the three different locations as which I've had boxes, and none of them ever budged.

[ex-tjcoyote516.livejournal.com]

There is one MAJOR advantage of having a box at
The UPS Store or some other private mailbox place --
you can receive all types of packages there. I
have a $12/month box for that reason alone, otherwise,
they'd be left on the porch, returned, or left with
neighbors. So much easier for me to send them to
the receiving place instead, and pick up the packages
at my convenience.

[giza.livejournal.com]

GAH! See what I mean? The very pronunciation of the town just hurts the brain!

(I just fixed the LJ entry :-)

[giza.livejournal.com]

Receiving UPS packages? That's what the office is for. :-)

[giza.livejournal.com]

Well, that's just it. They need to get into the physical office, which eliminates 99.9% of the people online who may have issues with me. And it's not like there aren't other ways to figure out where I live, either.

I do like surprises, though. Anyone foolish enough to visit my home will receive a few. :-)

[liontaris.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's not quite Celtic (which would be Irish, Gaelic and I think Manx), it's Welsh. I've attempted to find a translation, but I can't yet. I'll keep looking later.

[taral.livejournal.com]

The post office will generally deliver anything that is "properly addressed", i.e. has a definite address on it.

[tzup.livejournal.com]

Used to hurt my little furry antipodean brain trying to say Bala Cynwyd as well cos I lived in Summit Road, Narberth - which is just a couple of miles NW of there, as a cub. Stupidly addressed postcard from Australia on the way...

[giza.livejournal.com]

Whoa dude, and I live just a few miles away from there.

What are you doing down in Australia? :-)