Why didn't we have printed programs with abstracts and a timetable showing when each presentation would happen?

650 copies of the program were printed. Each was 176 pages long and was coil-bound so you could open it all the way and it would stay open.

DHL was chosen to deliver them to Corfu because they said they would deliver them in two business days.

Since they picked them up on Thursday April 26 at 2:15 pm, the driver said they would be "on the plane by 3:00" and the shipment would be in Corfu on Tuesday, May 1.

The shipment was not on the plane by 3:00; it didn't leave Vancouver until the next day at 8:06 pm.

DHL's online waybill viewer could't (and still can't) find the waybill for our shipment; instead, it shows a waybill with the same identifying number for a different shipment -- a "tape" going from Scarborough, Ontario to Calgary, Alberta. Concerned about this, I phoned them. It took me several calls over a few days to get them to even acknowledge that there's a problem with their system.

I phoned DHL again on Sunday after not seeing any progress with the tracking utility and, even though they didn't know where it was, they said it would be in Corfu on Tuesday. They initiated a "trace" of the package.

On Monday, DHL knew a trace had been initiated, but they still didn't know where the shipment was. Nevertheless, they still said it would be in Corfu on Tuesday.

On Tuesday they still didn't know where it was but they said it would be in Corfu on Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, DHL said they didn't know where it was; in the afternoon the web tracking system said it was in Ohio and it said "Bad address" but the people on the phone didn't know. In the evening they knew where it was and they said it could be in Athens on Saturday and Corfu on Sunday or Monday. The "Bad address" did *not* mean that I had improperly addressed the waybill and the labels on the boxes; it had something to do with DHL's tracking system.

On Thursday afternoon a supervisor at DHL said it hadn't been handled properly in Ohio and they're "very sorry." It should have been delivered to Corfu on Tuesday. It will now go to Athens on Saturday and will be delivered to the Corfu Chandris on Sunday or Monday.

So the programs sat in a warehouse in Ohio from Saturday, April 28 until Friday, May 4 when it left for New York City at 9:30 am. It is now scheduled to leave New York at 7:45 pm this evening.

Draw your own conclusions.