Tag Archive for 'TV'

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I’ll probably change my mind

Published on February 13, 2007 in Random Thoughts. Closed Tags: , , , , .

… so far, Dish Network sucks. I haven’t seen the “no signal” symptom that the cable companies show you on their anti-satellite ads. But I’ve had some issues setting up HD service, which required one phone call and $0 back on cable, in Woonsocket. First we got delayed, due to some sale price not being offered until Feb 1st. I’m not sure if we actually got the sale price or not, since I haven’t seen the bill and it’s not in my name, but I won’t pretend to understand the way Dish bills us anyway. Then, when we finally did make the call, the installation was scheduled for 6 days later. On that day, the installation of a new box was charged to the account before the tech ever showed up. The tech did show up that day, though, and spent a good deal of time fiddling with the old box and setting up the new one and making sure the dish was pointed in the right direction to get the right satellites and such. Then he turned it on the HD Discovery channel, and left. When I attempted to change the channel to another HD channel. I got a black screen… several other channels were showing the same behavior. Some of them loaded, but it took 20-40 seconds, in most cases. A couple days later, the channels just weren’t there anymore… if I tried to turn to them by pushing in their channel numbers, it would load the next channel down that it did still have in the guide. So we called them up and they had me go through a bunch of diagnostic stuff on the box that led them to believe that some piece of hardware was bad. So we scheduled a tech to come out. That was supposed to happen today, but apparently, Dish techs are allergic to snow, so they just called and rescheduled to Friday. I hope they don’t expect us to pay for this week and a half of HD without getting more than half of the channels.

If I ever get the service, I’m sure I’ll be pleased with it, it seems like there are more HD channels than I had on cable, especially considering the local channels, but I can’t believe how much hassle and extra money this has taken, compared to one phone call and a minute or two wait time for the cable box to reset and Zero extra cash for installation or service.

I’m just ranting. Everything else is going really well. Work’s just starting to get rolling. I got some of those replacement parts for the Dell, but not enough to get started on it without giving up the use of the laptop until the rest come. We may be getting lots of snow dumped on us, but at least I’m inside for now… maybe some shoveling later… but, I’m and dry and comfortable and I think I’ll go eat a bagel and relax.

paperwork

Published on February 5, 2007 in Random Thoughts, Web and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , .

This is the week that employment starts to shape up. Tomorrow, I go to one of the Ys that’s not too far to fil out some paperwork and get the scoop on whether some of the departments beyond the front desk could fit me in for some additional hours. Friday, I think we’ll start some of the paperwork for the adventure education job, and then head over to a training, allegedly with Karl Rohnke, games and ropes course guru, founder of Project Adventure. Exciting!

Wednesday, the HD DVR gets installed downstairs. That one day of HD service in Woonsocket was really good. It left an impression on me and now I really want to see a nice HD signal on that super TV again. I’ll have to get into the listings and see if any of my favorite shows are on in HD. I seem to remember Universal HD having some Sci-Fi program, like Battlestar Galactica, in HD, or something. And I know I found plenty to keep me interested on my one day with it.

The wii continues to be fun. There is that trap that comes with all video game consoles, of course… that you need to buy or rent new games to renew your interest and get your money’s worth. The new game this week has been Elebits. I was skeptical, at first, since it looked far too cute to be fun, but it turns out to be one of the greatest new games that I’ve played on the wii. It really makes good use of the Wii-mote and doesn’t ramp up and get to difficult for at least 6 or 7 levels, depending on how awake I am. I even re-played a bunch of levels on the second Wii, downstairs, and it was still fun… so good re-play value.

The webserver got a processor upgrade. I noticed that this site and Wormtown.org were moving a little faster (most noticable on Wormtown.org), so I asked. I figured since that would make backups and such a little faster, I’d upgrade the code for the site. It was a little tedious, but it wasn’t terrible. More new features and code tweaks than I expected between versions 2.0.3 and 2.1, but no really big complaints.

employment

Published on February 1, 2007 in Web and Work. Closed Tags: , , , .

I have officially been offered a position doing adventure education with high school freshmen in Chicago. It seems like a good position at a good company with some steady hours until May … and there’s a position opening at their ropes course, too. I’m excited. It’ll be good to be working again and I’m glad I found some work in my favorite field. The position might require some new clothes, since most of it is in the schools. Now that I’ll have some income, I’d like to reward myself by getting HD service for the HDTV. We think there might be some sort of sale starting tomorrow, so we’ll make the call then, I think.

February is upon us; I dunno what I want for my birthday. The Dell laptop is getting less and less reliable/usable, and I think I’d like to replace it in the Spring with a MacBook Pro (when OS X 10.5 comes out)… so, Apple Gift Cards would be more than welcome, and there’s always the old Amazon wish lists (books, DVDs and games & tech/toys/expensive stuff). I’ve also been thinking about getting a real razor, but I’m sort of afraid of using a real blade and have no experience with anything beyond beard and mustache trimmers (Remington MB-300 Precision Titanium Mustache & Beard Trimmer). I like the idea of the self-cleaning ones, I guess. Anyway, that’s just sort of an afterthought, the apple gift cards and wish lists are always safe bets. If I think of anything else, I’ll try to add it to the Amazon list(s).

Speaking of Amazon, and Buy.com and Google… you may have noticed (unless you have Adblock, which you should) that there are some ads over in the sidebar [of the pages that have one]. While I do have a job, now, there’s no income yet; officially start work in a couple weeks. So, this is my silly attempt to make some money back from all the various webhosting costs over the years. Most of them are referral based, so if you’d like to help a friend out and you’re going to make a purchase through Amazon or Buy.com, anyway, I’d love it if you used my links to get to the site. The google links are pay-per-click, but I’m not allowed to ask people to click them… so, uhh, pretend I didn’t say anything about them.

settling in, being a bum and loving life

Published on January 6, 2007 in Computers, Family & Friends, Random Thoughts and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

I’ve officially lived in Illinois for about 11 days, now. I’ve had plenty of time to get all the computers set up and happy… as well as my TV, speakers, DVD player and Wii. It’s nice to live with a bunch of people again, getting to learn their schedules and habits and such. I feel at home already. Still have those loose ends hanging around… local bank account, switching driver’s license, insurance, car ownership, whatever address change requests I forgot, etc. Life is pretty damn good, though.

I’m also officially a bum, and so is Sarah. So we get to spend oodles and oodles of time around each other, which is fun. Threadless laid her off… right after the sale ended, though they kept her through the holiday party and such, so we got a bunch of cool free shwag and a good time out of them before she left. We haven’t figured out their reasoning, they said she did nothing wrong, but they still had the temps on for a couple weeks after she left. My best theory is that it has something to do with their new VC partners, but we haven’t heard about any other lay-offs of part-time people, so there’s no real answer.

Anyway, that leaves us both as jobless bums. Sarah’s knitting a lot, though mostly gifts at this point, but there’s still some interest in trying to make a living out of it… we have to find some sort of small project that’s the cash cow to support the big projects, though. perhaps some other simple craft.

Meanwhile, I need to start getting in touch with all those prospects I made initial contact with around Thanksgiving, to see what the actual job possibilities are. Most of them had the same message back in November: call us next year. Well, it’s next year… so I gotta start getting on that. Otherwise, I’ll have to take some weird job in retail or something.

Speaking of retail, there’s a buttload of it out here. I don’t understand it. The population density is about the same out here as it was in New England, but there’s retail as far as the eye can see here… and it seems like retail struggled to stay open back east. I haven’t seen an empty abandoned strip mall, yet. I do have a new favorite store, Meijer. It’s like Wal-Mart or a Target… of the super variety (full grocery and department store)… but it seems somehow less evil. And they carry Apple Soda and Matt’s Real Cookies, my favorites. And they’re right down the street; everything is right down the street. Driving ten miles to a store is a foreign concept to Sarah’s family. The only things within ten miles of my place in Woonsocket, was the Bargain Outlet, Box Seats, a White Hen, Ye Olde Fish & Chips and a few Dunkin Donuts (which are seriously lacking, or perhaps in a more reasonable abundance, out here) … and about 10,000 triple decker apartment buildings full of people who don’t shop retail as much as people in the midwest do, apparently. I guess the East Coast megalopolis is just spread a little too thin or something.

I miss the east coast a bit, obviously I miss Mom and some other people, but life out here is good. I’m getting used to the differences in the landscape and the commerce and such. It doesn’t seem like anything here is any worse than out there, just different. I guess I missed out on a lot of goodbyes during the weekend that Sarah was out visiting. I spent some time in Dudley and made a final daytrip to NYC, which was a lot of fun, but sort preempted any trips to Worcester or Amherst or Northampton. Now that I’m here, it doesn’t seem like much of a loss, though.

So, what do you think? Got any employment opportunities I should check out, or know of some hidden talent I have that I could live on like Odd Todd? Lemme know how you all are, too.

listening party?

Published on November 2, 2006 in Music and Random Thoughts. Closed Tags: , , , .

I got the 5.1 speakers hooked up to my TV earlier this year, and have been pleasantly surprised by the occasional movie or TV show that makes really good use of the surround sound. Even when it’s not used well, like that weird Wal-mart commercial I was watching, where all the sound suddenly shifted to the back speakers for no apparent reason, it’s still kinda cool. It creeps me out for a second, and then I remember that there’s speakers back there and it’s intriguing. Sometimes I just think about the guy who mixed the sound, and what was going through his head while he was putting sound back there.

Today, I listened to two old albums in a very different way. A few years ago, a bunch of us tried to get the necessary CD players and coordination to play the Flaming Lips four disc album the way it was meant to be played… but it proved a bit too difficult to really experience it as intended. So I was thrilled to find out that it wasn’t just a fluke or a phase for them, and that they’ve re-released a couple albums in 5.1 surround sound. Not only that, but the liner notes include these big long explanations of the entire concept and the mindset and the steps that led to this style of recording. They also included maps explaining what kind of stuff got mixed where and a little bit of why and how. It’s a lot of fun, and it makes me want to tweak my speaker set-up so that it’s just right.

So, does anyone want to come over and listen to this stuff? It’ll motivate me to clean and pack faster if I know company is coming, I think. It’ll be a listening party… I’m not sure when I might have time, but lemme know if you’re interested.

random day off

Published on October 31, 2006 in Family & Friends, Random Thoughts and Work. Closed Tags: , , , .

Some small threat of rain combined with nonavailability of certain staff have pushed tomorrow’s high ropes day all the way to Friday. That means I have the whole day off. I haven’t picked out my next book yet… so I guess I’ll have to actually do some stuff. There’s a bunch of packing I need to do… but I am as unexcited about moving stuff and furniture as I am excited about actually going to Chicago. Did that make sense? I know it doesn’t really make sense, but grammatically? Who knows. I think if I start digging into it, I’ll get it done and be happy about it… so far, I’ve just had little bursts of motivation and taken care of one little section worth of stuff at a time. That’s not the way I do things when I really want to get them done. Hopefully, that will change, tomorrow.

I’ve been fairly upbeat and happy lately, mostly due to the prospects of seeing Sarah very soon, scouting jobs out there and moving there… only a few things of have brought my mood down: Wendy’s getting my order wrong; Why even offer a vanilla frosty, if you’re gonna give me the chocolate every time? TV show season finales being all cliffhanger and no resolution; I understand wanting to hook us in for another season, but really, they’re sacrificing content just to set up the anticipation. And no one wanting to sublet my apartment… I really don’t want to move this furniture.

sorry, issues resolved

Published on October 11, 2006 in Random Thoughts and Web. Closed Tags: , , .

My webhost had some issues over the weekend that might have caused you to receive some extra eMails from the site about new posts, if you’re subscribed to receive notifications. Sorry about that. I may have also been somewhat unreachable via eMail, too. That part of the problem was resolved sometime today. I weeded through a ton of eMail and I think I got through everything important. Again, I’m thankful that I have a host who tries to roll with these issues as they appear and not use them to swindle me out of hundreds of dollars. Good riddance to bad Gunnels.

Threadless printed a Bananaphone design. As if that wasn’t enough reason to go buy from them… it’s inspired by They Might Be Giants. It’s mostly from Particle Man, with a small reference to Why Does the Sun Shine? It may have other references in it, too, I haven’t analyzed every little detail. I can’t wait to get it. I also just found out that this Bananaphone gem is being printed and released, soon.

I also seem to have gotten roped into quite a few TV shows, this fall. Some, I’ve been following for years, but there are a couple new ones, as well. I seem to have something to watch every night… sometimes a couple things. Glad I have the DVR.

I should be sleeping, I just wanted to update the site now that it works, again.

weird dreams

Published on April 7, 2006 in Family & Friends and Random Thoughts. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

I was on a roll when it comes to remembering dreams last night/this morning. I never remember the whole thing, but the bits and pieces that stuck with me this morning were pretty amusing.

The last one simply proved that I watch too much sci-fi; Something about sneaking onto the an alien planet on the back of one of their ships. I remember that when I was on the back bumper, or whatever, of the ship, I was talking to someone, and looking at some sort of computer monitor mounted back there. Then I saw some little compartments and asked whoever I was talking to if the driver might see some kind of “Trunk Ajar” warning. I opened one of the little ones, and it was pressurized, and then the computer monitor went out. We flew into a hangar with a giant pool of water instead of a floor and I jumped off the ship into the water. I guess I managed to hide down there and avoid a couple close calls. I don’t remember how, but I got out and into the main building. There were aliens and humans there, but the humans seemed to be slaves or pets or something. The aliens did almost everything by telepathy or telekinesis, but it wasn’t a special skill of theirs because I immediately started developing telepathic abilities as soon as I started talking with people. I also used these new and developing abilities to learn the language on their computer consoles. Then came the funny part. I was reading about the schematics for the planned Alien version of the iPod. The main changes were the user interface being changed from the click wheel thing to some sort of telekinetic thing. I think I was either planning on using the iPod to somehow destroy them or somehow use the information about the conversion process from click-wheel to telepathic interface. I dunno, ’cause i woke up.

Before that one, I had a sorta funny one about death, or some sort of Beetlejuice-like waiting room… except cleaner and sort of like a bank. We were under the impression that getting out the door would mean that we were alive again… and there was some hints about getting out of the waiting room during some past encounter. This time around, we apparently hadn’t really died anyway. We had just gone there to try and convince someone to let our superhero friend come back to life. Our idea was that since he had died in costume, we could just leave the costume and the superhero dead and let the secret identity live. I dunno how that one that one ended either.

The first time I woke up, I remembered a dream unlike any I’ve had lately. It was a very strange dream that I don’t remember much from, but the two or three pieces of information I retained were weird. The first is that my Dad was dead. My dad’s been alive in a lot of my dreams, lately. Usually having something to do with cars. But this time it was him dead, or dying, and it had something to do with a car accident (which is probably how we all expected him to die someday). The only other thing I remember is some other woman being very angry that we occupied a surgeon for him when whoever she was there for needed one.

Waking up three times during the morning and remembering dreams probably isn’t the sign of the best sleep cycle ever. I didn’t happen to check the clock after any of them.

Estate Sale

Published on April 3, 2006 in Computers, Family & Friends and Photo. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Watching my cousin and his friend sort some old dead guy’s record collection, while I play on his brand new MacBook Pro brings up a mixed set of feelings. My cousin is older than me, as all of them on my Dad’s side are. I’ve always looked up to them and, at various times, emulated various cousins. I’ve never really gotten into the vinyl thing or the jazz thing that he seems to be into, but I respect it. I certainly admire all his gadgets and technology… and the fact that his HDTV and Xbox360 and other audio and video components are all upon a plain steel rack you’d find in the kitchen of a restaurant or my old server room at my tech job. Even things I’ve only done once and thought about dabbling in, like scuba diving… He seems to know quite a bit about it, and has a whole closet full of gear. I can see why I’ve emulated cousins like him: He’s supremely cool. And not just cause he has bunches of cool stuff. He’s a really cool guy. Hell, he just gave me little wireless mouse for my laptop, an old camera like the one I learned on and grilled cheese; He’s just cool. I’m not really into emulating anyone anymore, but clearly, I should be hanging out with my cousin more often.

bullshit

Published on February 23, 2006 in Random Thoughts. Closed Tags: .

I’ve been watching a lot of TV lately… more accurately, I’ve been watching a lot of DVDs and downloaded videos of some of my favorite shows. When I have some spare time at home, I watch an episode or two of or or the third season (not released yet). This is a spectacular show that debunks all sorts of things that most of the world believes in and/or takes for granted. I think the entire series should be required viewing for all 16 year olds… maybe earlier, I can’t decide.

check out the topics

New season starts in April. I can’t wait.

woot