My SPEY pack arrived today:



Contents: 1 Certificate of Memberness, 1 Goats Vol 3 book, 1 Toothgnip character sketch, 1 Toothgnip mystery shirt, 5 monotreme stickers, 9 Diablo tattoos and 3 pinback buttons.

The box arrived quite open, so I wonder what is missing (1 tattoo and 1 button I imagine). The tattoo doesn't worry me, and I hope it's a button I'd hate anyway.

-Chris "oh yeah, no chocolate inside either" Combs

I just got my lovely, lovely SPEY package today too. Props to you guys for sending it USPS so it got delivered right to my desk; instead of having to trudge across the tundra to the UPS pick up / drop off dock to see if my package had arrived.

Although my package had volume IV with a sweet sketch of fish tucked inside; enjoying his mug of beer with a huge smile on his face, just like we all remember him. Brought a tear to my eye *sniff* And man is that shirt killer, I don't think I could have designed it better myself!

Looks like the button you're missing is the monotreme button (same image as the stickers.)

My apologies for the open box; it must have been pried open by rabid postal employees.

I'd be happy to send you the missing monotreme button and the extra tattoo if you'd like; just let me know.

My box was also open. I suspect the metal pins set off the xray machine, causing some set of the boxes to be searched until they determined that a) all boxes contained the same stuff and b) they'd "preserved enough evidence for later use" to stop opening boxes

I do not appear to be missing anything, except possibly a tattoo (which I really have too many of anyway)

And some cheese. I am entitled to some cheese.

Perhaps I'm supposed to be able to fetch it with the telekinesis I acquired earlier?

In Response to jon (#3452):

Seems silly to use postage for such a tiny thing. How about you just put me into the strip on my birthday this year?

-Chris "or, uh, send me a button" Combs

Here is my wonderful Fish sketch courtesy of Mr. Rosenberg: Hooray, collectors item! Thank you.

In Response to Oedipa_Maas (#3457):

Goats Bonus Tip: If you want to scan your sketch, one way to do it is to scan it in Black and White mode at a high (300-600dpi) resolution. The scanner won't pick up the non-repro blue pencil, and you'll be left with a clean, ink-only scan.

I got mine yesterday and was giddy as could be. It didn't look like my box had been opened, just stomped on by a malcontent postal worker. The corner of my certificate was kinda bent, but otherwise everything else appeared fine.

Anybody know how durable those stickers are...like just how long they'd survive on the rear bumper of a Honda in wintery conditions?

In Response to misere (#3463):

They're vinyl, not paper, so they're pretty sturdy. I forget how long they said they'd last outdoors, but it was around a year or two (but don't hold me to that).

At least you've got a bunch of 'em to try it out with .

Occasionally, we accidentally put one up on public property around the city, and they don't last long there, but that's because people try to peel 'em off and take them home with them.

In Response to jon (#3462):

You're just embarrased about having your non-repro lines show in a public forum, admit it...

In Response to jon (#3464):

This is Haddie, just too lazy to log in here in my russian domicile. I really wish I had gotten a premium mebership for x-mas. I would love sharing my Premie joy right now, instead I bought my brother book 3 + 4, and a Diablo baseball shirt (for myself).

In that sense, my shirt has been worn 3 times since christmas, despite me having no interest in baseball and my brother read both books in a few minutes (he is fast) and logged on to read the rest. What a wonderful time of the year.

With a number of open boxes being delivered, I should expect that goats [goats.com] traffic should pick up through inadvertent mail advertising. Perhaps jon should mail pins to various random addresses all over the world and spread goats throughout the worlds postal systems.

After a brutal Christmas that involved too much work, evil Santa being nailed to the pub floor so he couldn't come for a brandy this year, a singing lobster and the worst Christmas jumper ever, you probably heard my whoop of joy yesterday when my SPEY pack arrived.

Luckily, the light-fingered staff of the postal service (yours or mine -- that's right, *mine*!)did not pilfer any of the valuable contents of my pack. As cool as the pins are, perhaps next year non-metallic items only should be in the pack?

For your viewing pleasure, here is my extra-terrestrial ass-kicking sketch of the two, the only, the most not-getting-any aliens.....Neil & Bob!


How long is it until next year, anyway?

My SPEY package arrived two minutes ago. I've ripped open the box, and I too am missing buttons - in my case toothgnip and the goats logo, judging from Chris's photo. Everything else is there, although the certificate of memberyness needs left under some heavy books to flatten.

I'm going with the rabid postal worker theory on this one - the corner of the box was caved in. Sticking everything in a bag before shoving in the box should cure it next year.

Can't say I'm bothered about the missing buttons - they'd probably have got lost anyway. And the sketch more than makes up for it. Far more wonderful than I had been expecting, and even with bonus hamster. I'll try to find time to scan it in for you guys later.

Cheers,
Graham

In Response to albionsoft (#3497):

If anyone is missing buttons or anything else from their packs, please contact us directly [goats.com] if you'd like them replaced. We can probably stick them in an envelope and have them on the way to you within a week or two.

Hopefully we'll figure out a way to do this better next year; I'm somewhat disappointed at the reports of opened boxes, and I apologize for any inconvenience.

In Response to jon (#3498):

It was unclear if my box had been 'opened' or 'crushed until it opened'. The right hand side had been pushed out. Again, it could either have been from pressure on the top, or by being pulled from the side, I couldn't tell.

Nothing appears to have fallen out, but it could have.

In Response to jon (#3498):

The most important stuff in the package came through fine - the cool t-shirt, and this :



Very, very cool.

Cheers,
Graham

In Response to zamphir (#3454):

shit that isa the shit man where do i get some

In Response to chris (#3529):

Get some?
Get some punctuation?
Or get some intelligence?

My SPEY package has arrived, and in one piece even. Actually, it arrived a while ago, but I've been in the Black Hole of No Time To Post. (Just changed jobs, on top of general holiday chaos. Not much time to burn online.)

Anyway, very cool. Gregor Mendel: Best. Evil Genius. Ever.

Now, since I have been collecting the hard-cover books, I had intended to give the paperback from the SPEY as a gift. Then, upon receiving it, I noticed that the cover art is sufficiently amusing to cause me to want to keep it and order the other paperback as well (though I'll probably wait until a few things, like my personal finances, have settled down before I do).

So now I'll end up with two sets of Goats books on my shelves, and be subject to endless ridicule from anyone who notices. Thanks a lot, Jon.