Man, the USPS should change their tracking to:
"Your item was processed through and left our [far away] facility on May 04, 2011 at 6:35 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination. Information, if available, is updated periodically throughout the day. Please check again later."
They should add:
"But you will receive it before we update the status, so you may as well save some time and not come back. This is not UPS."