FedEx. Like a boss.

After trying to buy an iPhone 4S at six stores Tuesday morning, I finally gave up and ordered one from Apple that afternoon. And ever since, I've been obsessively tracking the order's progress.

The phone spent an excruciating four days stuck in "Processing Items." It finally shipped Friday night and has made steady progress toward home since then. It hopped around a bit in southeast China, then landed in Anchorage this afternoon.

In all my guesswork about when it was going to end up where and how long each step in the process would take, I visited the Apple customer forums quite a bit. I used to think I was the only one who obsessed this way about packages in transit, thanks to some minor childhood trauma that has made me an incredibly impatient adult, but as it turns out, these guys had me beat. And I tip my hat to them.

My visits to the forum introduced me to a site called FlightAware. It allows you to track domestic flights. Using this site in addition to the FedEx tracking page —

Let me take this moment to say how thankful I am this particular package is shipping FedEx and not UPS. UPS can go piss up a flagpole.

— I was able to narrow down which flight I believe my phone will be on as it leaves Anchorage. This assumes it will be on a flight that leaves tonight. It SHOULD be destined for Memphis, then hopefully my hometown! It's scheduled for delivery on Thursday, but with the type of progress it's making, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it may show up sooner.

And while we're here, why doesn't Apple EVER make enough of its products to stock its retailers? I mean really. SIX STORES.