Thank you for the support of Nathan in the past and I am sure he will update his blog upon his return in 2013.

Anyway, I won! So there should be a bottle of Sparkling Grape Juice showing up on my door step any day now. So why is winning so great, so fabulous, so invigorating to the soul? OK, maybe just great. But winning makes you feel like you’ve been chosen somehow, that chance has shined on you this day and that you are someone special, chosen from the masses and bestowed by a grand gift from the internet world.

You get addicted to winning. You can’t get enough of the thrill of waiting all day for the winners list to be posted, for random.org to choose your comment number. It’s so exhilarating. Waiting, watching, making sure your e-mail address is correct so that the blogger can contact you when you win their giveaway.

Then, you get the e-mail. After entering so many contests, spending time filling out forms, making comments, twitter updates, facebook posts, linking all over to the giveaway, hoping, watching, waiting, crossing your fingers. You open the glorious e-mail and quickly send off your mailing address to this unknown giver of free stuff. Then you wait. And wait. And wait. Then, the moment arrives! The UPS (or other shipping company) man comes to your door and says “Here you go.” You tear inside and destroy the packaging. You take pictures, post on twitter, thank the blogger, post the pictures to facebook, tell all your friends and family. You throw a party to celebrate your championship in the game of luck.

Then comes the waiting, the filling out forms, the twitter links, the prowling for giveaways with low entries, the good stuff that you really want. You wait and watch, anticipating the next win, the next victory over chance.

Image via CrunchBase

So I check my e-mail on Saturday in the afternoon to find an e-mail from B&N that says “Your attention is required – XXXXXXXXXX (order number)” in the Subject Line.

Great.

I open it up to find this:

Dear Nathan Atkinson ,

Unfortunately, the merchandise listed below has been further delayed.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to fulfill your order soon. To keep your order open, we must have your approval for a 30-Day Order Extension. Unfortunately, if we don’t get approval from you for the extension within the next 24 hours, we’ll have to cancel this part of your order.

To approve a 30-Day Order Extension, follow these easy steps:
1. Go to http://www.bn.com/orderstatus and sign in under View Order History.
2. Click on the order number.
3. Click on the “I Still Want This” link next to each item.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay.

– Barnes & Noble

Awesome. So I decide what the heck and just go to cancel the order. I get to the place where I am supposed to cancel, and the site takes forever to load, then fails to cancel the order, giving me no feedback. So I leave it for two days until today. I get into work and try to cancel it again. It tells me that it successfully cancelled this portion of my order and I won’t be charged for it (the cost of the total order was more than $20, so the gift card applied to the other half of my order which arrived in February on time.)

Not even 20 minutes after I click cancel, I get another e-mail telling me this:

Subject Line: Your Barnes and Noble Order XXXXXXXXX is on its way

Thank you for shopping with us Nathan Atkinson.

We shipped your package by Smart Mail.
Your tracking number is: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If all of your items are not listed below, we will update you soon, so please watch for our next email.

Wait… I thought I just cancelled you! So, I will let you know in the next week and a little bit if I really do get my order or not. If I do, kudos B&N. If not, I hope they reverse the charge dang it!

I will keep posting until I leave, but don’t expect any posts for two years, or between May 24th and the summer of 2013. I hope that my blog has had some inkling of influence, and I will definitely be blogging a lot more when I get back and launch my career as a full-time (hopefully) writer and blogger.

Image via Wikipedia

About two months ago I bought a Barnes and Noble $25 gift card from Groupon because it was half off. I then found the Moleskine Le Petit Prince limited edition on the Barnes and Noble website and pre-ordered it for around $12 (way cheaper than buying it when it comes out at about $19). It said it would probably ship on or before May 1st. OK. I can live with that. I did a search today for a Moleskine Le Petit Prince notebook which returned nothing. Nada. Zilch. It gave me suggestions which are just popular books on the site.

B&N Fail.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my nook, I love Barnes and Noble, but today all I get is an e-mail saying

“We apologize, but due to an unexpected delay, we are unable to ship the item(s) listed below in the time frame we stated in our previous email. We anticipate that your item(s) will be shipped within the next 1-5 business days. (Please note: business days are Monday through Friday, excluding holidays observed by the Post Office.) As always, you will not be charged until this item(s) ships from our warehouse.”

Gee, thanks. How about you just say that you really didn’t get any notebooks from Moleskine even though you posted them on your site fro pre-order and that you screwed up and you will personally go to Moleskine, buy a notebook and ship it to me for $12. I assume in 1-5 business days I will be getting an e-mail that either says “We’re sorry but your order is delayed again,” or, “We don’t even have that product anymore, so here’s your money back.” Well, I don’t want my money back. I want a Le Petit Prince Moleskine for $12 like I ordered!

I hope that B&N proves me wrong, but at this point it is not looking up. Who knows, maybe I’ll be getting a package in 1-5 business days. I’ll let you know.

That little note card that came with is a personalized, hand-written note to me that says: “Hi Nathan – I’m so glad you love our notebooks and the look of our products. Enjoy the red notebook for now and be on the lookout for our official launch early this summer. Best – Meredith & The Poppin Team

How awesome is that? I barely found out about this company and I already love them! Thanks Poppin!

On to the brief review:

The notebook comes in many different colors with a gray band and bookmark on the red one, which looks really awesome and sleek at the same time. The soft cover is flexible and the notebook stays open. The paper is really nice to the touch and the color is pleasing to the eye. I’m not sure you can see from the pictures, but the paper is lined and the top is divided up into little sections for a title, date, page number, etc. This is cool if you need a structured notebook. I’m sure they will have other styles when they launch officially.

For now, Poppin is an amazing small business trying to make their name in the world, and so far they have made a huge impression on me. I will definitely be looking at Poppin products in the future. Thanks Meredith and the Poppin Team!

(If I ever start up a stationery store, Poppin stuff will definitely be included!)