It appears as though I should have just chosen a different phone at this point. I ordered the phone at 6:00 AM on the 16th, was charged on the 22nd, and here I sit on Sept 5th with no phone and a FedEx status of "No scheduled delivery date available at this time.". Granted, the last leg of it's journey is tied to the carrier and I live in Houston, so it is out of their control. However, had they shipped it when they were supposed to, all this mess would have been avoided. UPS hasn't had any issue getting my stuff to me over the past week.
Frustrating to say the least. Might be better served to get a different handset and just shoot this one back when/if it arrives.