Passport is finally here!...

Random: Cute... Amazing DDR Kid :)

I can finally go to sleep without worrying whether my passport is going to arrive before the day I was set to depart! I'm seriously wondering why it took so long for it to be delivered (?) it's not like it's a complicated process, and I'm pretty sure they weren't backed up at the time. My parents put in for theirs and received them well within the 3 week period that's stated. Mine, on the other hand, was stuck at the printers for god-knows how many days waiting to be printed... wtf. How do I know this? Well, I called the line to check the status of my passport... the service was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. As expected, I was in the phone queue for a good 25 minutes before I was picked up by an agent. The nice thing about their queue was that it let you know exactly where in the queue you were. In between the hold music a voice would come on the line... "yadda yadda, there are xx people ahead of you". That was a nice change which encouraged me to stay on the line as I could approximate the amount of time I had before my call would be picked up. I had lost my receipt and along with it my tracking number :p so she looked me up by name and verified some information, then she let me know that my passport had been at the printers for sometime and she didn't know why they hadn't printed it out yet. WTH. Anyway, she sent them an email and assured me that I would receive it by Monday.

I remember that sometime the previous week (Wednesday, I believe) I had put in an online request for a status check on my Passport. I didn't get the email from them until Feb27^th(the day that on which I was assured my passport would reach me), nice eh?

And What's up with this?:

Important note: We highly recommend that you use this service only when the normal processing time has been exceeded. Requesting information about the status of your passport or travel document application during the normal processing time could result in a delay.

How the frack does that work? Ask about the status of your passport and they will delay the time it takes for it to arrive? psh... run by a bunch of chimps I tell you.

Here's the timeline:

Feb 03^th, 2006 - go to Passport office and put in application for passport. The clerk advises that I should get the passport by Feb 17.

Feb 17^th, 2006 - Wondering where the frack my passport is... figure I'll wait a week before I say anything.

Feb 20^th, 2006 - Start to get anxious, will I have to postpone my departure?

Feb 22^th, 2006 - Check Passport Canada site and put in an electronic request for a status check.

Feb 23^th, 2006 - Called the 800 number to speak with a representative regarding Passport status. Was assured that I would receive it on Monday (Feb 27^th).

Feb 27^th, 2006 - Received status email (it's been 5 days). I use the tracking number that they gave me and it tells me this: 2006/02/25 15:12 OTTAWA, ON Item accepted at the Post office.

Feb 28^th, 2006 - Passport finally arrives! Now I can rest in peace, right? NO... I'm to excited about the trip!!! :p