Just Another Tuesday

There's not too much to talk about today. I've been busy trying to earn some money by finding neat stuff to sell in the website I'm putting together. I think I've found at least one super product that all you knitters are going to love!

Of course, there will be patterns in both printed and PDF format, and I'm working on those, too. But until I get some of the products I want to sell and test them, I'm going to be a boring person who's busy with other things.

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Tonight is the premier of Covert Affairs and White Collar on USA! I'm really excited about Covert Affairs! 

That's Christopher Gorham and Piper Perabo shown above. If I understand it correctly, it'll be spy fi, but with the usual USA twist.

I'm still waiting to get the card installed tomorrow by the Comcast repairman in a policy that's intended to rip off customers. I still hate Comcast! Until it's installed, I can see some TV, but not everything. They really seem to be trying to punish me for getting a TiVo (translation: a DVR that actually works as opposed to the piece of malfunctioning junk I got from them).

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I have lots to do at the moment, I just wanted to check in with you and let everyone know that I'm still alive and haven't forgotten you.

In the meantime, have fun, and I'll be back with another post in a couple of days!

Comcast Strikes Again!

The cords that weren't included with the TiVo arrived on Wednesday and I called Comcast to schedule a repairman to come out and take the old box and install the card(s) the TiVo needs. Prior to this, they had told me that they would have someone out here the day after I got the TiVo set up.

But when the time actually came, they insisted they couldn't get anyone out here before Thursday of next week. After a little discussion, they said I could bring the DVR back to the office, hand it in, and they would give me a card to install myself.

I should have known better. They've promised me things before (like TV that doesn't break up, freeze, go to black or lose the sound) and they haven't delivered all that in the last three and a half years.

After a 5-1/2+ hour trip, I'm home minus the DVR (they did accept that), and without a card or cards for the TiVo. The person I spoke to on the phone said that they would have a card waiting for me at my local office in Dale City, but they not only didn't, they said that they never give out cards, and that they have to be installed by a repairman. So, she gave me an appointment for between 2 and 5 pm on Wednesday. Then she said "That'll cost $32!" I explained to her very carefully that it would not cost me anything because of the agreement they have with my apartment complex.

Well, it's obvious to me that, although there may be some people who are reluctant to try something like that themselves, it's just a moneymaking scam to refuse to give out the cards and insist on installing them. I'm also thinking it's a scam to give bad service and then insist that customers pay to have the problems Comcast makes for them fixed! As I said, they can't charge me for service calls. But they've already told me on the phone that service calls are $70 each, and they send them out without even asking you if you want service.

Once again with feeling, "I HATE COMCAST!"

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I bought a bookmark through Etsy that arrived yesterday. That link will take you to another bookmark made by the person who made mine. Here's the one I got.

I've been using it all day while I was riding around on the bus, and it's so pretty! The photo doesn't do it justice. When I get outside in the sun, it shines and sparkles!

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ABC Family is having another Harry Potter weekend! The Closer will be new on Monday (I think), and Covert Affairs will be starting on Tuesday. I can't wait! There's a new Doctor Who on Saturday on BBC in America, but I won't be able to see it because I can't get some of the stations without a card in my TiVo!

Have a fabulous weekend!

The Middleman Vs. Warehouse 13

I, like most of you, watched the brand new season premier of Warehouse 13 last night and loved it!

Not surprisingly, I found lots about it on the internet today, mostly on io9. There's an article, ostensibly about Warehouse 13, but with a lot about The Middleman, too! Warning: there are spoilers in the links and ahead.

I'm intimidated about writing anything about the show after reading that masterful review, though. There's lots I'd like to say, but mostly, it's already been said in the link from Warehouse 13 above.

I really like the relationship between Artie and Claudia. It reminds us that Artie knew Claudia when she was a kid, although it's hard to think of Claudia as anything but an adult, even when she was shorter. I have a friend like that, Sara, who may have been short when she was 7, but could hold her own in any adult conversation. I was a little disappointed that Claudia's brother fell about 20 feet, and all we heard about it was that he broke his leg.

I was delighted that H.G. Wells was portrayed as a woman, though. There have been too many things that have been done/invented by women that men took the credit for. The thing that leaps to mind is Eli Whitney and the cotton gin, which was actually invented by his sister, but credited to him because, at the time, a woman could not legally hold a patent.

I also especially enjoyed the text on the screen every time they showed Cern!

To find out more about the future of Warehouse 13, check out this interview with Allison Scagliotti, who plays Claudia. It also has some information about the future of Eureka, which premiers Friday night on SyFy (of course).

Oh, and there's a Warehouse 13 contest, too! Check it out!

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There's going to be a third Men In Black movie! Find out more about it here!

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There's a Doctor Who marathon currently going on BBC in America. It's been on for a while, so hurry, or you'll miss it!

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I've been working on the first sock with the yarn I bought over the weekend, and I really love the faded denim colorway!

I've finished as much of it as I have mainly because I'm being entertained by watching the patterns developing. Fun for the feebleminded!

I have to get back to my super secret project for the Lion Brand Yarn Imagination Contest. The contest closes at the end of this month, and it has to be done! I'm not saying anything else about it except that I ordered some more stuff to make it, and I have just a bit more to get to finish the project.

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I'm currently high bidder on ebay for the camera I talked about yesterday. I've bid the absolute maximum that I thought I could afford to spend, so if someone else bids more in the next 2-1/4 hours, I'm out of luck.

In a way, I'm also out of luck if I win it, because I just balanced my checkbook, and there's less in there than I thought there was. I'm going to have to find more stuff to sell on Craig's List. 

I'd love to get the camera, though, even if it means that I'll be a bit hungry at the end of the month.

Wish me luck!

I have lots of stuff to do today, so that's all there is for the moment.

Have a fabulous middle-of-the-week!

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Addition:

The auction is over and I didn't get the camera. The bid stayed the same with me in the lead for over 24 hours, and there must have been at least 3 bids in the last 15 seconds. It would have been a problem for me to pay for it, but I'm really disappointed I didn't get it.

Oh, well, maybe next month.

Apres Holliday Miscelleny

I hope everyone out there had a great Independence Day, and holiday weekend!

Holly and I went out on Saturday and had our usual good time. A little bit of yarn shopping (I got enough Red Heart Heart & Sole yarn to make 3 pair of socks in Faded Denim), the usual visit to WalMart for stock-up shopping, and then on to dinner at Ruby Tuesday where we had food that was so good I stuffed myself.

Here's a photo of the sock yarn. I'm taking a break from my other project and making at least one sock with this to see what it looks like.

The best part of the trip was the company and conversation. Holly and I have so much fun together!

On the fourth, I stayed home and watched TV most of the day, plus fireworks in the evening. I turned on the Capital Fourth on TV. I can't really see the fireworks on the Mall from here, but they came in sharp and clear with a great view on TV. And they backed it up with the 1812 Overture (complete with cannon) followed by lots of John Philip Sousa! While I was listening to the TV, I was watching the fireworks out the window. I could see the high displays from seven different shows. If the trees behind the apartment office hadn't grown about 20 feet in the last four years, I could've seen at least two more.

And yesterday, I got a call to do another playing board for the group of iPad games I've been doing the art for!

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I was also looking at stuff I want on Amazon, and looked around for a better price on a camera I've been looking at. I discovered to my surprise that the one I liked, (Canon Powershot A1100IS) has been discontinued by the manufacturer. So, if you're looking for a good point-and-shoot camera, this is a perfect time to buy this one! Most of the stores still have them in stock, but they know that they can't get any more and some stores will put them on clearance. When I was in WalMart, they had one on clearance for $119, but probably most WalMarts don't have them anymore.

This is the camera that Crazy Aunt Purl chose. She goes on about how bad she is at taking picutres, but she did OK two cameras ago. The last camera she had just didn't take good pictures, no matter how much anybody tried. But she loves this one, and can't seem to take a bad photo with it. The link shows what she thinks of the camera.

One of the nice things about it is that it has a viewfinder. When trying to take action shots, it's much easier for me to use a viewfinder. Not to mention that my sunglasses are polarized, so they black out the LED image and I have to take them off to take a photo. Which is a good way to miss lots of photos, and get more sun exposure for my retinas.

I haven't tried taking close ups with this particular camera, but I've seen photos that others have taken (see CAPs link), and this would be a good camera if you want something to take photos of tiny things to sell on ebay, Craig's List, Etsy or anywhere on the internet. It's also a good carry-around camera.

I always try to have one really good camera, and one that is small enough that I can carry it around everywhere. The really good camera takes fabulous pictures, but to be really good, it has to be bigger, so I never have it with me when I see something unexpectedly.

I have a tiny, tiny camera to carry around, but the rechargeable battery is dying. I'll have to get another battery soon, but I can get a whole new camera for about the same price. This camera isn't the smallest ever, but it's small enough that I'm willing to carry it. And it uses 2 AA batteries, so if you run out of batteries or have them die unexpectedly, there's always a drug store or gas station that has new batteries! I usually recharge mine, but it's a good safety net.

So, anyway, I got sucked into ebay. A few people are trying to sell them for somewhere between $150 and $200, but that seems excessive to me. I only bid $40 on the first one, and they seem to be going for more than that. I lost the bid on the second one, and now am bidding on a third one, which is blue like the one shown above, and I love that.

So, wish me good luck!

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There's currently a Warehouse 13 marathon on SyFy, which will end with the season premiere tonight! I can't wait!

I'm still waiting for the cables to connect my new TiVo, so it won't be recorded on the new TiVo (maybe later in the week), but on my old DVR, which will be gone soon. The TiVo people shipped out my new DVR without any cables! They sent them out on Friday, but they don't seem to have arrived yet.

This seems to be one of the first new shows of the summer season, but there will be more right away. Just in time for my new TiVo! I'll keep you up to date on what's coming up.

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I have gone off the deep end and changed my business to an LLC, so the bank made me close the old account and open a new one.

Which meant that I needed new checks, and since I don't have the right size checkbook cover, one of those, too,

While I was ordering the checkbook cover, I got one for my own checkbook. It's called shining stars, and that describes it perfectly.

I also felt it was the perfect checkbook cover for me!

Then I saw another one that I might love even more. This is the one I got for the business. It's called Celebrate Space. Both covers are from Bradford Exchange.

The business checks I got to go inside have four different sky photos, and I just love them! Here's a sample check:

The others a different, but similar. I think it looks businessy, but different and really cool. It makes me want to start writing checks!

Unfortunately, this is the real world, and they said it will take about two weeks to get the checks and checkbook covers. I suspect that the covers will actually take less time. I'm really jazzed!

I've also found some really neat stuff to sell, and I'm working on a website to sell it on. Some of my patterns will be converted to PDF format because I've had a lot of people asking about that. Wait until you see what I'll be featuring on my website!

I'll keep you all up to date about what's available! Whatever happens, it's going to be an adventure!

Have fun with Warehouse 13 tonight!

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!

I was really at a loss as to what to write for today, but I happened to catch Franklin's post at The Panopticon, and realized that he said everything, and much better than I could say it.

So, click the link, enjoy, and have the best ever Fourth of July!

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Addition:

I also really like John's post on the Steve Canyon on DVD blog! Check it out!

Red Alert! Red Alert!

It's been a whacked-out day so far today!

I had to be awake, dressed and downstairs by 8:30 for a blood test today. Some of the people who were to be tested had to fast from midnight last night, so they wanted to do the test early.

Getting up early is always a challenge for me because I worked night work for so long, and I've never been able to switch over to a daytime schedule. It's always been hard to wake me, and now that I have hearing problems, it's even worse.

At any rate, I made it down in time thanks to waking up because I felt so bad this morning.

When I was done, I came back upstairs, took some Ibuprofen with some crackers, and went back to sleep.

Since I was still very tired and started to feel better thanks to the medication, I then proceeded to sleep later than usual.

Once I actually woke up, John called with a question. I assured him I had an answer, but, as so often happens, the answer turned out to be "I don't know."

I asked him a question about hooking up my TiVo. I got the RF modulator that I needed, and now needed to get cables. I noticed there were no cables in the box. He said that I should call TiVo and get them sent to me by them. I didn't really want to bother them with it, but I checked to see what cables should have been included, and realized that they didn't send me the power cable for the box! Which, of course, means that I not only can't hook it up, I can't even plug it in!

So, naturally, I immediately panicked!

I called TiVo, and they're sending cables immediately!

I still have to buy cables, though. Just not as many.

Once this is all over, I should be able to watch DVDs again, though! I can't wait!

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My friend, Steve, sent me screen shots of the finished games that I did the art for, and they're beautiful! I need to win an iPad in one of the many giveaways I've entered for them so that I can buy the games and play them on my own iPad! When he says it's OK, I'll show you what the games I worked on look like.

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If you're a knitter, you have to read the latest post on The Panopticon! Whether you love or hate the Twilight series, you'll love Franklin's post about it! It's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while!

There are lots of things to do today and I have to get going. I hope you've been having a wonderful week!