Digital Telephone

Today two men from Time Warner Cable came to my house to install digital telephone. I had been contemplating getting this service for some time, and finally decided to sign up when I realized that I would save money each month. Now the cable company gets one big check from me for cable, internet service and telephone. I have been happy with TWC over the years, and have added services like digital cable and a digital video recorder. As an added bonus with my digital telephone, I got a new cable modem which takes advantage of their increased speed of almost 5 Mbps (megabits per second). With digital phone, I now get caller ID, which my friends will enjoy more than me, since I no longer need to screen my calls. What's next for me? A new HDTV cable box when I buy a HDTV.

I Can't find Summer

Not the woman, the weather! In Key West is was unseasonably "cold". It got down below 70 degrees at night. Then I come home and find out it rained earlier today and now it is in the low 60s. But enough about the weather, let's talk about airlines. I missed my connecting flight to San Diego (due to a broken hatch on the airplane in Miami that took 20 minutes to fix), was given a ticket on a much later flight and a stand-by on the next flight. Luckily, I was the last standby to board the next flight, so I got home only about an hour late. The plane wasn't full, but there are "weight" restrictions on these commuter flights. Happy to be home and have three days to catch up.

Chosen Spike

I got a surprise in the mailbox today - Chosen Spike. This figure was sent by Diamond Select Toys because I am a member, or Radical, as they call it. Basically a free gift. When I signed up as a Radical last year I was promised a special gift which was at the time a World Tour Willow figure. I never received that figure, so I was happy to see this gift. Chosen Spike came wrapped in a bag inside a small box. This allows me to open the bag and remove the figure, which I don't do for my other figures. Spike is obviously colored yellow/orange for some reason. It is hard to tell from the photo I took, but his mouth is open like he is about to bite someone. I will place Spike next to my Pre-production White Witch Willow where he'll look down upon me as I surf the internet.

Mattress and High-Definition Television

I wanted to follow-up on my experience with my new mattress. After sleeping on sleeping on it for over a week I can finally give my review. First, I bought the Venitia queen sized mattress at Banner Mattress, which really means nothing to anyone. It was close to their top-of-the-line mattress. It is much softer than my old mattress, which I had for only seven years. Do I sleep better? I would say no. However, I no longer have red marks on my shoulders and legs in the morning, so it must be providing less stress on me during the night. I had considered a Tempurpedic mattress, but could not justify paying $2500 for a mattress. So, I guess I'm happy with my purchase.

Now for my experience in shopping for a high-definition television. I went to three stores today and spent much time staring a three different types of HDTVs. I would say that plasma offers the best picture. However, they are about twice as expensive. I have a hard time paying $6000 for a 50 inch HDTV. I looked at a rear-projection LCD Sony, which looked pretty good, but didn't have the sharpness, color or viewing angle of the plasmas. I also looked at several rear-projection DLPs. These suffer from bad viewing angles and background light wash-out. However, I looked at a model from Samsung that looked really good. A sales man told me that Samsung will have a new model out in a month with a "3 chip" DLP that has much better color. That is the dilemma. Ever month prices will come down and technology will improve. So at some time I just have to take the plunge and buy myself a HDTV. I'm looking at mid-May right now, so stay tuned to my blog.

36 Years Later

It is a sad day in Poway. After over 36 years we are selling the family house. We moved in way back in 1969, after our Dad had this house built for his family. Now that our parents have passed away, it is time to sell the house. The second picture was taken last week. Yes, we are standing in the opposite order, but the order of heights is the same.

Bug Invasion

My house is being invaded by rolly-polly bugs! This morning I gathered up five of them and placed them back outside where they belong, just to find more of them headed in. I must admit that those bugs don't bother me at all. I'd much rather have them than the big black spiders I also keep finding (and killing). I attribute the bug onslaught on the copious amounts of rain we have received this year in Southern California. I will be getting new windows and doors soon, so maybe they will do a better job of keeping the bugs out.

Mattress Follow-up

Sunday evening after not getting my new mattress, the delivery man called and said he would deliver my new mattress Monday between 1 and 5. I told him that they ripped my mattress during the delivery today so why do I have to wait up to 4 hours when it was their mistake. He said they have four hour time frames for deliveries, but he could call me 30 minutes before they arrived. Sounds like these guys work for unions and have no flexibility at all. So at 12:45 today he called me at work, so I rushed home in 25 minutes and ended up waiting another 15 minutes. When they showed up it was the same situation. One smart guy, the driver, and one not-so-smart guy who took forever to find my mattress in the truck. Finally they placed the mattress on my bed and took away my old one, which wasn't really that old. This hassle is finally over. Now lets see how well I sleep tonight. I am so tired, that I know I'll fall asleep quickly before 10pm.

More Spring Break Photos

I have put my best photos from my Spring Break vacation on my personal web site for your viewing pleasure.

New Mattress

So yesterday I bought a new mattress from Banner Mattress. Top-of-the-line, they said. Today I waited for the delivery in their 4 hour window and after 1 1/2 hours the delivery men arrived. However, when removing the new mattress from the truck, the mattress was damaged. Now I have a new box spring but no new mattress. The two delivery men might want to work together to bring in the mattress and box springs, rather than working alone. This was the second day in a row this man damaged a mattress. I guess his days are numbered. Stay tuned.

Tru Calling Second Season

Where did this show come from? From what I read Tru Calling wasn't picked up for a second season. Then, suddenly, my DVR started recording a new episode on Thursday! Now let me regress. I started watching Tru Calling last season for one reason only - Eliza Dushku, who played Faith the Vampire Slayer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Near the end of last season they shook the show up with the addition of the character Jack, played by Jason Priesley. He added a new edge to the series. In fact, the show is so edgy now that it is almost hard for me to watch. Much like the new Battlestar Galactica. It is funny how Fox can advertise the heck for shows like American Idol but have no advertisement at all for Tru Calling. It is almost like they want the show to fail. But fail it will not as long as there are true fans like me watching television hoping for better crap than Survivor and Amazing Race (sorry Karen).