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  • PSA: Changes In U.S. Post Office Rule Affect Date Sensitive Mail

    There’s a change in U.S. Post Office rules that went into effect on December 24, 2025 that will affect anyone who needs to drop a date sensitive item in the mail. If you use what is now commonly referred to as “snail mail,” think taxes. Think donations that you make the end of the year. Think normal bill paying.

    Shutterstock 1093687493.

    We’ve been accustomed to what was a time honored legal tradition that if we dropped that bill in the mailbox or at a post office that it was postmarked that day and the postmark would be honored when it was received. When it comes to end of the year donations and ordinary bill paying the “mailbox rule” was honored as the date that should be credited or accepted. Well, that’s no longer necessarily the case.

    Again, think of every news story you’ve ever read about long lines of last minute tax filers at a post office on April 15th. The new rule doesn’t actually change when an item is postmarked but it clarifies that a machine-applied post mark represents “the date of the first automated processing operation” at a processing facility rather than the date the piece of mail was dropped off. In USPS speak:

    …while a postmark confirms the USPS possessed a mail piece on the date inscribed, that date does not necessarily align with the date the USPS first accepted possession of the item.

    So, if you drop off mail in the box in front of your post office don’t count on it being post marked if you beat the pickup time marked on the box. If you do a search on this change you’ll see plenty of links from accounting firms alongside local municipalities giving a heads up to clients and local citizens.

    There is a remedy for customers who need something post marked on a specific date. You can go to a post office and request a manual postmark, or when you pay for postage at a retail counter the machine label affixed by the post office also indicates the date. Of course you could also pay for Registered or Certified Mail and keep the receipt as evidence.

    (Image from Jonathan Weiss on Shutterstock)

    You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

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  • Sunday Morning Reading

    Sunday Morning Reading is back from a two-week hiatus in which we watched the grandkids while their parents began moving into what will be their new house after the first of the year. It was a big deal featuring lots of little things with the little ones. As usual the column this week presents some interesting reading and writing that I think worth sharing. Big topics side by side with little things.

    As the Christmas season I knew growing up begins to wind down and everyone begins gearing up for the New Year, I ran across Matthew Cooper’s Why We Need A New Dickens. He makes a good argument, but in my experience everyone loves reading what Dickens chronicled, but somehow it never really catches on.

    Keeping somewhat in the Christmas vein The Guardian View On Far-Right Perversions Of The Christmas Message: Promoting A Gospel Of Hate by the Guardian’s editorial department hits its target, but in a glancing blow that proves my point from the link above.

    NatashaMH takes on The Great Wall Of Honesty with blunt truths, bear hugs, and a bit of resilience.

    JA Westenberg points out that we never pay much attention to the tech folks who do the grunt work behind the scenes to keep things running in The Rime Of The Ancient Maintainer. That’s the little story behind most of the big things we take for granted.

    Illustrator Lauren Martin writes On The Pitfalls Of Saying Yes To Everything. Hat tip to Stan Stewart for this one.

    I don’t usually link to book reviews in this column, but this one by Dorian Lynskey of Sven Beckert’s book Capitalism: A Global History made me buy the book. Check out Capitalism by Sven Beckert Review — An Extraordinary History Of The Economic System That Control Our Lives. (FWIW there are no affiliate links on this site.)

    Speaking of the little things, David Todd McCarty enjoys The Casual Comfort Of Champagne And French Fries.

    This piece by Josh Marshall has been sitting in my Sunday Morning Reading queue during the aforementioned hiatus and it’s certainly lost none of its luster with time. Check out Will The 21st Century Nabobs Win Their War On Public Accountabilty?

    I’ve followed and linked to a number of Denny Henke’s posts about how he’s changing his personal computing habits this year. His 2025 End Of Year Personal Computing Check-In is worth a read even if you haven’t been paying attention up until now.

    Neil Steinberg notices things big and small and occasionally writes about those he hasn’t seen in a while. Check out his observations on seeing an Armored Car.

    And to close out this week and this year’s Sunday Morning Reading, here’s a piece that good friend Sumocat linked to that is indeed an obituary. One worth a look even if you never noticed or took for granted what the deceased created, The Moylan Arrow. Take a look at The Inventor Of The Little Arrow That Tells You What Side The Fuel Filler Is On Has Died by Daniel Golson.

    It’s the little things that make a difference in this big world. Have a happy turn of the New Year.

    If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

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  • The Before Times

    The Before Times. Today begins the round of family and friend holiday gatherings that follow Christmas. In Chicago basements and dining rooms. In the occasional pizza parlor on the Northwest Side. I call it The Before Times because it was before Trump. Before COVID. Before Trump again. Before some of the folks in this picture from 2014 succumbed to illness, divorced, or on the flip side gotten married and had kids, or seen their kids finish college and move on.

    Like I said, before so much.

    These gatherings were and are always fun. Always a bit tedious. Always full of laughter. Always with an air of tension.  Always always.

    While they still happen, so much has changed. Families have separated and merged into new families with new family traditions. The younger ones have scattered across the country and don’t always come back for the holidays as they build their own. As a matter of fact, we’re in the midst of building a new one with my daughter and our grandkids. One family grouping continues the bi-weekly Zoom call that began during COVID.

    But that’s life and the part of life that holidays always remind us of. Regardless of what’s happening within our family circles or outside of them, life goes on. It is just always changing.

    You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

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  • The Search For The Coat

    Back in the day when I was writing gadget reviews for GottaBeMobile I did reviews of all kinds of things related to tech. Every now and then a product would cross my path that I liked enough to spend my own money on. One of those happened to be a coat from SCOTTeVEST.

    If you’re unfamiliar with any of SCOTTeVEST products their outerwear is designed with many pockets to carry tons of gadgets and gear without looking bulky or overstuffed. Their website was famous for its X-Ray views of all you could carry in the pockets. I’ve owned a few of their coats and vests over the years, but this one became my favorite for a number of reasons.

    Brad Thor Alpha Jacket - SCOTTEVEST.

    There’s a great line in Larry McMurtry’s western epic Lonesome Dove spoken by Augustus McCrae that says “You know Deets is like me — he’s not one to quit on a garment just because it’s got a little age.” I’m much the same. I’ll wear a piece of clothing out before retiring it, and this coat is one I’ve worn all too close to the bone. So much so that when I pulled it out of the closet this year as colder weather approached I told my wife that this was going to be the last year I could wear the thing and I was going to be very sad to retire it and shop for something to replace it with next year. I wasn’t complaining. 12 years in the life of a coat is actually a good run.

    Even so, my wife was listening. The only thing less forgiving than my approach to hanging on to an article of clothing long after its usefulness is my wife’s determination when it comes to finding and acquiring something she wants, especially if it’s a gift for someone. Like a dog on a bone she managed to track one down in excellent condition and presented it to me as a Christmas gift.

    CleanShot 2025-12-26 at 13.39.05@2x.

    Turns out, as with all things about my wife, there’s a story behind her hunt.

    The coat in question is or was called the Brad Thor Alpha Coat. Brad Thor is an American action thriller novelist. His Scott Horvath series of books replaced my Tom Clancy addiction many years ago, merely by coincidence as regards to this coat.

    Beyond featuring over 35 pockets to carry your tech gear, (you could even carry a full-sized iPad in one of them, and I did), the original design featured ways to carry and access a handgun, pockets to hold and quickly access a dagger, an RFID pocket to avoid skimming technology, and for those who might need to wear bullet resistant body armor underneath it was sized a little larger. Thor was quite involved in the design of the coat which fits completely with the milieu of his action thriller writing. The color of the coat is called Squid Ink.

    For the record, my everyday carry has never included handguns, daggers, or body armor, but often has included an array of tech gadgets, especially back in the days when I was traveling by air more frequently. Those were different days and you could plop the coat down on the conveyor at airport security and sail on through. As a bonus each year when we put away the winter gear all my various gloves, scarves, and winter hats get stored in the pockets.

    But back to the story. Along the way it turns out that Brad Thor and SCOTTeVEST had some sort of falling out, and Thor stopped endorsing the coat or any of the company’s products. The company stopped using his name and manufacturing the coat. I knew they had stopped making the coat but never looked into the why of it because hey, the coat was in good shape until the last few years when wear and tear eventually started showing.

    My wife’s tireless search involved corresponding with a number of folks on eBay and other websites, exhaustively sending them measurements to check and asking for more pictures than they made initially available. There were apparently plenty not in my size (either too big or too small) but she finally found one that was just right and made the deal. It was quite the surprise on Christmas morning. She’s the real Alpha in this story.

    So this post is both a testament to my wife’s dogged determination as well as the Brad Thor Alpha Coat. Happy to say it’s great to have a replacement that I hope will last another 12 years. Which is probably longer than I will.

    For the record none of the links in this post are affiliate links. You can read my 2013 review of the coat here.

    You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

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  • Merry Christmas!

    Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and to those who don’t. May you find warmth and joy in the company of family and friends this Christmas morning and all mornings to come.

    Here’s hoping the bells we hear bring us the sound of good news to come.

  • Visions of Sugar Plums

    Here’s to a Happy Christmas Eve to all who celebrate the holiday and as well as to those who don’t. May visions of Sugar Plums dance in your dreams. 

    And if you’re looking for a very interesting bit of reading and look back, check out this column from the late Mike Royko from 1966 called Mary and Joe, Chicago Style. 

    You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

  • Two More Sleeps

    Getting closer to the big day. Or as my grandson says, “only two more sleeps.” 

  • Apple’s Customer Support Weaknesses

    The story from Paris Buttfield-Addison about losing 20 years of his digital life due to a hacked gift card broke last week when I was watching my grandkids. I was able to follow along but didn’t have time to comment, but it certainly flashed me back to some issues I have had with Apple in the past. The good news is that it appears that someone from Apple’s Executive Relations solved the issue.

    If you aren’t up on the story the quick summary is that Paris Buttfield-Addison attempted to redeem a $500 Apple Gift Card he had recently purchased from a third party retailer. The card had been tampered with. Apple’s system saw it as problematic and disabled his 25-year old account. After frustrating attempts to resolve the situation Buttfield-Addison blogged about his situation, which was picked up by much of the Apple press. That in turn prompted action which escalated the situation to the Executive Relations Team. You can read all about it here.

    As I said, the good news is that the account was eventually restored.

    The bad news is that it took the pressure from exposure online to solve the issue. What’s good is that the story was picked up enough to generate that pressure. Often that’s not the case.

    I can testify to that from two events in my Apple experiences. Both of which required escalation to the executive level. The second one requiring intervention from Craig Federighi after I had all but given up hope. You can read about that adventure here. It took quite a while to get that issue resolved, one that lasted through several operating system revisions.

    The worse news is that increasingly if you have an issue with Apple (or any other large company for that matter) that falls outside their prescribed systems of support you really have to be either lucky or damned persistent to get a resolution. There’s an old saying that if you have one employee you have an employee problem. That applies to customers also. If you have one, you have a customer relations problem. To be fair in a company as large as Apple it has to be tough to mitigate these kind of issues given the very large number of users.

    But if you smash those old sayings about employees and customers together the resolution dynamic can easily become untenable. It shouldn’t. The fact that large companies have to have an Executive Relations Team speaks to failures in management. Anyone remember Comcast Cares on Twitter? Great that it existed. An admitted failure that it had to.

    When a company anticipates potential breakdowns and devotes resources to solving problems its existing customer support systems can’t handle, the dog is chasing its tail. One has to assume the resources devoted to Executive Relations Teams solving issues that regular customer support systems can’t must be less expensive than addressing the flaws in existing customer support mechanisms. At least I hope that’s the case. The alternative is that a company just doesn’t care.

    To be fair, there will obviously be issues that can’t be anticipated that require some method of higher level oversight to be corrected. Customers can only hope that leads to better support further down the line once an out of the ordinary problem arises. Unique problems crop up all the time and rules and regulations get changed to deal with them. But setting up barriers to problem solving creates its own set of problems.

    With more and more companies adopting AI solutions to help with customer service and support, it makes one wonder if we’ll end up with AI Executive Relations Teams made up of AI engines solving problems AI support created in the first place. But I imagine it will fall back to humans.

    Assuming you can reach one without needing allies in the media to help make your case.

    You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

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  • Sunday Morning Reading

    Travel day today so Sunday Morning Reading is still on hiatus as we complete our 10-day grandparent gig watching the little ones while their parents move out of one house, into the temporary digs, (christened The Special Christmas House) before heading to their new home after the first of the year. 

    If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

  • The Subtle Difference Between Making Noise and Making Music

    Young kids are great at making noise. If you pay attention, you discover that even while doing so with toy musical instruments (or anything else they can lay their hands on) they might actually have a predisposition to eventually making music. Or at least that they have a sense of rhythm. 

    Or maybe not.

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