off to Hogwarts - day 2

I finished the book this aternoon at 1:45. It was simply amazing and now I'm already wondering about book 7 - am I a wacko?!?

off to Hogwarts - day 1

So now, the new Harry Potter book has arrived and I will not me available for the next few days. The only thing I can offer is pretty much regular updates on my reading and how far I've got...

The book has 607 pages.
I'm at page 326.
That leaves me with 281 pages to go.
I've just finished chapter 16 of 30.
The chapter is called A Very Frosty Christmas.

off to Hogwarts - or so I thought...

Well today was the big day for all Harry Potter fans, no matter what age. The release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!

Since I count myself to the Potter fans I was really happy about this and had trouble doing anything at all today. After all, I had pre-ordered my copy like last December 22nd, so what the heck could possibly happen?!? I was sure to get my copy in time just as Amazon had promised, right?

Yes, well, rather not... When the mail got delivered today around noon and I saw a package from Amazon among the mail for us I just thought 'Yay, here it comes, my weekend of undisturbed reading Harry Potter!' But when I opened up the package I was really disappointed to see the DVD box of Ally McBeal season 1 in it, which, btw, shouldn't have arrived till Monday earliest!

So I went off to check my mail account to see whether they were delivered by different parts of the German Post World Net - and strike, so it was! So i decided to wait a bit longer before I was going to write a complaint to Amazon.

Then, arround 2 p.m., I got a phone call from customer cares asking me whether I had received my copy. Umm, nope?!? So they told me not to worry DHL would be delivering till 6 p.m. - okay, so there was a chance for me to get my copy, right? Wrong!

At 6:15 p.m. I again went to get online and officially write a complaint about not getting my copyin time, but when I was filling out the form and came to the number of the order I had to check my mails, cause that's something I never have in mind.

So I opened another window to check my mails and what had I gotten? Right, an e-mail from Amazon...

It started like that:

Hier ist eine wichtige Nachricht von Amazon.de:

Wir muessen Ihnen mitteilen, dass Ihr vorbestellter Band "Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince" von Joanne K. Rowling nicht am 16. Juli 2005
ausgeliefert werden konnte. Der Band wird erst Anfang der naechsten
Woche bei Ihnen eintreffen.

Dies tut uns ausgesprochen Leid!

Translation:
"Here is an important message from Amazon.de:

We have to tell you that your pre-ordered volume 'Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince' by Joanne K. Rowling could not be delivered July 16, 2005. The copy will be delivered to you early next week.

We are utterly sorry!"

Yeah, I'm sorry, too! I'm sorry I trusted you to have it delivered in time, I'm sorry I have the strong urge to wring all your necks, I'm sorry I won't be able to do so cause - lucky you - I don't know a single Amazon employee...

Actually, I do give a damn about you being sorry. I want you right in front of me now, on your knees begging for your lives! *eg* I'm pissed, but okay, this just means you have one customer less for the next couple months. I can as well order my books elsewhere, no problem about that, I only enjoyed getting everything I needed at Amazon... I certainly don't have a problem about actually leaving the house to pick up my books and DVDs and whatever at local stores. I think they really desserve it cause there I would have gotten my over 6 months before pre-ordered book just in time...

I also don't really care about you giving me that damn book for free. I wouldn't have mind paying for getting the book in time. As a matter of fact, I already paid!!!

But enough ranted, I'll go and try to find some book - I hope I find one cause I finished off the books I had started in a hurry getting ready so that I wouldn't have anyting that could distract me from the book...