A Weekend By Any Other Name...

I've refrained from posting in the phase game forum through my few weeks of wait for my ALX, but sweet God, this weekend is the only thing that separates me from my estimated time of delivery. I had a PSU switch a few days ago, so that may have possibly moved the date up from Monday to Tuesday, but either way, the shiny goodness of my technological mail-order bride is so close that I can feel its dominant prowess. We shall rule the world together. Quahaha.™

I've run out of things to do to alleviate the wait, save for one. I need a moniker for this beast. My friend suggested that I name it The Jesus, since my last name in Arabic is the equivalent of the English "Jesus", but I believe that would be blasphemous to Christians, so that's a no-no. I like my Christian buddies.

I think I'll name it The Juice, but any suggestions are welcome. I want to see what sort of wacky names spring forth from the collective minds of this forum. Think of something epic that would look nice etched or painted onto the side.

No, it's Issa. Allah is the Arabic word for God.

Ahah, DarthBeavis is a no-no. I wouldn't mind naming my child that, however.

Ok, I lied.

One other question: Is it "normal" to be at Phase 9 on the Saturday before your estimated date of delivery? Last I checked with Eddy, he had told me my machine was already built and had the software installed, which would have meaned Phase 10. As he was talking to me, I checked on the website and saw that I was at Phase 9. I also made that PSU change I had been contemplating, but I still don't think that it would have delayed them too much for their testing procedure. I know these are probably "Gimme my freakin' computer" jitters, and I don't mind waiting, but I just needed to get that released. Thanks to the administrators for having a forum dedicated to people afflicted with momentary insanity.

I told Eddy on the phone that they should take as much time as they wanted on the machine, as long as it was at my house before the 18th of August, which is the day of my college move-in. I don't mind for the most part, but it's a natural human response to overexaggerate...Heck, it could even be my id and ego, if I subscribed to Freud's thoughts on the matter.

It seems like the computer has been delayed for at least a day, and possibly more. Oh well. That lets me marinate in my anxiety juices even more, haha.

I made one final call to Alienware about the status of my order, as the website states it has been in Phase 9 for 1.5 - 2 weeks, and I just wanted to make sure if it was right on schedule. My ship date was yesterday, and no update or e-mail had been forthcoming. The agent whom I spoke to (whose name I did not catch, sadly) asked me if I had a 7800 card in my system. I told him, "Yes, two of them." He told me that was why there was a bit of a delay. They had to replace the heatsinks on all the 7800s within ALXs in queue, which they had just completed. He said they would start shipping Thursday or Friday. I thought that was a bit odd, but I questioned no further other than to inquire as to how long after ship date do most shipments make it to point of arrival, and I got a reassuring "Two days."

The only nagging feeling in the back of my head is to what they have actually done to my computer specifically, in terms of building and testing, and if they have to replace the heatsinks, is there enough time between now and Thursday or Friday to run extensive testing on the systems?

Well, I just got another automated e-mail today that said I was in Phase 12 currently, which is the Phase where someone inspects the ALX for any apparent defects. I was not notified about and nor did I notice any Phases between 9 and 12, which has me scratching my head a bit. I'm sure they performed the first two steps of testing (God willing), but it would have been nice to have some affirmation of that. Then again, I have never seen another company offer up-to-date reports on the status of your personal order, so I can't blame them if they just didn't do it for those two phases.

As it is, I think I'll give them a call tomorrow to make sure. I'll never get an answer unless I ask the question, just like anything else in life.

But, boy, oh boy, am I excited to get this baby in! I picked up a disposable camera for this sole occasion. My digital one was busted by my sibling during his "Snapshots in the Rain" session. I also have picked up Unreal Championship 2004, Half-Life 2/CounterStrike: Source, Battlefield 2, and a F.E.A.R. demo on a preorder for it...If I have to wait any longer, I'll end up getting more games out of my anxiety, haha. With all my software suites already purchased from overseas, all my games ready, and all my accessories and monitor ready, I have nothing else to get except the actual unit.

*does a FedEx dance to summon the almighty deliverers-that-be*

I'm in Chattanooga, about 5 minutes from the Georgia border. I get the best of both worlds. I head down to the ATL a lot, just due to the mere fact that I'm foreign, and Atlanta is Foreignopolis. However, Atlanta will be my residence starting August the 18th, as I'm attending college at Georgia Tech, so a LAN doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. The Tech campus has awesome facilities where I'm sure we could set something up with approval. I'll contact the MediaTech and Players' Club groups there if you wish, to see if we can set something up.

Well, I talked with Alienware Order Status support earlier this morning, and Mary-Jill answered the phone. She was very kind and informed me extremely well. I brought up my concern about the 9-12 jump, and she told me that as of late, they have been lumping the building and testing phases together and rarely post status on testing. They jump from 9 to 12 or 9 to 13 regularly, and it's of no concern. I was also surprisingly notified that my order had been shipped off a half hour before my call and that I would be recieving tracking numbers soon. Sure enough, half an hour later, I recieved three e-mails from Federal Express. They were each a tracking number for a part of my order.

That strikes me as odd, however. One package is 70 pounds, so I'm sure that's the computer. One package is 15 pounds, so that's probably the ALX-Exclusive suitcase and whatnot. The third package is the mysterious one, though. It's 5 pounds, and I have no idea what it is. I hope it's Crisco and Duct Tape.

As it is, the FedEx e-mails state August the 9th as the date of delivery, but Mary-Jill told me it should be two days, so I'm expecting them on Saturday. If they're not there, I guess I'll wait some more. All I know is, I'm happy.

And Yang, we have to meet up, dude. That's awesome for real.

I didn't purchase the ALX Power Cable. I did get the network cable, however. Could that be it?

And where are you from?

Well, out of ignorance and overexcited zeal, I did not notice that each of the package tracking number e-mails had a brief descriptor title to what each number corresponded to. The 70-pound one is the ALX (with ALX suitcase and extras, I assume). The 15 pound one is simply labeled 3dMark2005...I didn't think that would be 15 pounds, so there may be something else in the box (God, let it be Crisco). The 5 pound one is my Tripp Lite power supply unit.

Anyway, it shipped from Miami to Memphis yesterday and arrived in Memphis at about 12:45, a little past midnight. It boggles my mind that they have to ship it to the Memphis main office first, when Chattanooga is in-between Memphis and Miami, and now it has to make an 8 hour trip back to my house.

Oh well, it's almost here. It could possibly be here as early as tomorrow, so if I may degenerate into AOL-Speak: w00t.