Bye Bye, TiVo!

It was nice for the year that I had TiVo, but it was also a real trial attempting to deal with the customer "service" there.

I bought a refurbished TiVo HD at the beginning of July last year. It had a warranty. That warranty is still good.

But after about 11 months, the TiVo didn't work. They were very nice and sent me a "new" refurbished HD Model. That one lasted almost a month to the day from when it went into service.

In spite of the fact that they sent me a replacement that was almost ready to die, and in spite of the fact that it's still under warranty, if I want another one, it's going to cost me $50. For another refurbished one that's (for all I know) about to die in a month.They were very firm on the price for a replacement.

There are no more new ones of this model available, and haven't been for over a year. Aside from the fact that I really can't afford $50, I question whether that's a smart use of money. If I'm going to spend money on a TiVo, it might be better to spend $100 and get a brand-new one with updated software, as opposed to used-to-death-and-then-refurbished.

There's also the consideration of having to actually deal with the TiVo people about billing and other issues. They were at least as bad as Comcast customer "service" but Comcast has improved things, and now TiVo is far worse. I'm not sure I want to voluntarily sign up to be mistreated this way.

There's also the consideration that I would have to sign up for at least a year, maybe two for TiVo, and we may be switching from Comcast to Fios, and that would raise the question of compatibility, with me possibly stuck with a contract requiring me to pay $20 per month for a year and a half or so for a service that I might not be able to use.

So, it looks like I'll be continuing to use the Comcast DVR that I got to temporarily replace the TiVo. If I'm going to spend money on something, I know a place that regularly has sales on 2 terabyte SATA drives that I could plug into the DVR and be able to keep recordings when (for some reason) I have to switch DVRs again! Then I could just unplug the drive and plug it into the new DVR or TiVo, and just keep truckin'.

This is making me really depressed.

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Did any of you see the kickoff episode of the new Doctor Who season Let's Kill Hitler on Saturday? If not, you missed one of the best Who episodes I've ever seen!

I know, I know. That title is a real turn-off! I've seen a bunch of time travel stories where someone goes back in time to kill Hitler and stop the carnage, but it all goes terribly wrong, and they don't accomplish anything.

As it turns out, Hitler is just a peripheral character, and gets locked in a closet early on. I was looking at a rehash of the story on Ravelry (Who Knits), and halfway through, somebody timidly asks if Hitler ever got out of the closet. It's really not about Hitler at all. It is about the Doctor, Rory, Amy, and Rory and Amy's childhood friend, Mels. I want so much to talk about it, but as River says, "Spoilers!"

If you don't care about spoilers or have already seen it, click on the Who Knits link above (if you're also in Ravelry) and you'll get plenty of spoilers and a chance to discuss the episode if you've seen it.

Regardless of anything else, I love the beginning of it! It took me a few seconds to figure out what Amy and Rory were doing. First, that they were trying to contact the Doctor, and second, how they were going about it! It's very funny! Then they get the tables turned on them! I really love the opening sequence!

I have to go and actually do something constructive now, so I'll be back again soon.

Have a much better week than I had around here last week!


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Random Monday

I'm not going to be able to post tomorrow because my hearing aids will be getting a check-up at the VA Hospital in DC. This will (with traveling) take up most of the day.

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I hope you had a happy Armed Forces Day on Saturday! There's been a lot of things reminding me of the military just lately, and that was the first of them. The VA Hospital visit is the second of them because it is for veterans. And DC will be gearing up for Rolling Thunder over the Memorial Day weekend.

As if all that weren't enough, John has finally overcome most (maybe all) of the major problems he's had with getting the third and last Steve Canyon on DVD published. These have been many, and have included a hard disk crash that nearly took out the whole project, and illnesses involving people he planned to interview.

There's an article about it on the internet with more information. And another one here (scroll down for the info) which has a nice, big view of the covers for all three volumes at the bottom. Then there's John's Steve Canyon blog with a neat story about it with an update on what's actually happening.

He's been in contact with me about it, and I have some minor changes to do in the artwork, and I'm poised to finish it all off.

There is also a book coming out about Steve Canyon, which covers the comic strip, and I think there's stuff about the TV show, too. I gather it's pretty comprehensive, but I don't really know what I'm taking about because I haven't been directly involved with it.

If you're a Steve Canyon fan, or just like watching the Thunderbirds, or just flying, you'll probably be interested in this. Check it out!

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Well, my replacement TiVo HD just arrived, so I'm going to install it so I can watch The Event tonight!

I've gotten and will be getting some really neat things in the mail/via UPS lately. Stuff I've gotten includes: the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1) DVD, a copy of the book, Charted Knitting Designs, my Galaxy Tab, The TiVo (today), a micro SD card for the tablet, and I'll be getting a new knitting bag (the blue one) and two beautiful scarves! Oh, and I found out that I can't cancel my cell phone service without also canceling my at home phone service, so I'll be getting a cell phone, too.

This is the blue color one I wanted:

They didn't have any of those, so I'm getting the same model in gray, which is not as nice, but still pretty good. The outside of it is a non-slip rubber-type material that's easy to hold, and that clear part at the bottom of the photo has "light effects" when it rings. Hopefully, the ringer will be louder, too. so that I'll hear it. It should be fun, even if it's not blue.

I have to go install my TiVo now!

Have a wonderful week!

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Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Well, this has been a bad week for electronics as far as I'm concerned.

My TV is still in the process of dying.

My TiVo bought the big one on Sunday. I finally got it to the UPS store and got it on it's way back to TiVo. Once they get it, they'll send me a new one (or maybe a newer one, or at least one that works). So, with any luck, they'll get it Tuesday, and if they get it out to me the same day, I might have one as soon as next Friday.

In the meantime, I spent most of the day on Monday on the bus to go to the Comcast office and get a DVR until the TiVo comes back. That's kind of like taking your top-of-the-line sports car to be serviced and have them loan you a tractor to get around on. But at least it's possible to watch TV in the meantime. I'm particularly looking forward to the Doctor Who episode tomorrow because it's written by Neil Gaiman! Here's a publicity photo:

Last Saturday, before all this started, I ordered a Samsung Galaxy Tab from T-Mobile. It arrived yesterday, and I did something stupid and didn't know how to operate it. I can't believe I did something so dumb! I thought it wasn't working, and returned it yesterday (while I was dropping off the TiVo at UPS). They overnighted a replacement, and it arrived completely charged up late this morning.

The new one was completely charged up when I got it late this morning, so I spent about 5 hours having fun with it! Then it said the battery was low, so I unpacked the charger and cord from the box and plugged the whole thing into the wall. A few minutes later, it wasn't working. I finally got it to light up and try to tell me what's wrong, and it did. It said to connect the charger.

I tried plugging it into a different outlet, I tried plugging the USB cable into my computer's USB port, and it didn't seem to be working. I finally decided to just plug it into the wall and just leave it for a while to see what would happen. It looks like it's charging now, but very slowly. I'll check it in a bit and see if there's any difference.

I have to say that it is absolutely excellent when it's working! It loads web pages very quickly (faster than my computer), and it plays videos beautifully. It came with some apps I'd never seen before, and there's at least one that I really like. I don't remember the name and I don't want to interrupt it while it's charging, but the app is called something like daily status. It's got five pages, and once you tell it where you live, when you open it, the first page tells you what your local weather is. You can also load other locations, and see what the weather is like there. I already loaded in a location for my sister in New Jersey, and one for John, in California, so I can see what the weather is like there. I still have to load some other locations. But I've got Friendship, MD loaded, so I can see what the weather is like at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.

The fifth page shows you what you have scheduled on your Google calendar. The other pages show stock quotes if you enter your stocks in them, and some other stuff that I'm not interested in, but those two pages are worth their weight in gold (not that they actually weigh anything, you understand, being virtual).

It comes with the Kindle app already installed, and I installed the Nook app, and it seems to run even better than it did on my G1. All the books I've already bought showed up right away, and I had to make the text smaller because it was trying to display it at the same text to screen size ratio as my G1, and since this screen is much bigger, so was the type. But that's easily adjusted.


There's a Gallery app, and I opened it, thinking that I'd have to figure out how to load photos, and discovered that a lot of my photos had already loaded!

This is a really great device!

The people at the local T-Mobile store said that I could bring it in, and they'd use a cord that they have in the store to check and see if it was the cord. They have a car charger with a cord like the one I have, but it has a plug that attaches that will fit into a cigarette lighter that I can buy if that's the problem.

Or maybe it'll just charge?

I'm hoping.

It finally seems to be charging now.

Maybe it's OK.

As mentioned, my TV is still dying. Almost a year ago, it acquired a faint green cast to the color. You can't see it a lot of the time, but when there's a shot in low light, instead of being mostly shades of grey, it's more like shades of olive drab. It's been slowly getting worse. I've had it connected to two TiVos and now the DVR, and it's not from them.

Then there's the buzz that's developed whenever it's on. Oh, and don't forget the two thin, staticky lines that slowly travel up the screen all the time. I've been too distracted by the other things I've been dealing with to do something about that. I don't have any money saved, so if I want to do something about it now, it'll require going into debt, which I'm reluctant to do.

I feel like I'm just whining now, so I'll stop, although I will say that if there's a day that people should be entitled to whine, it would have to be Friday the 13th!

I hope yours was spectacular, and that your weekend is the best that it can be!

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What a Ride!

By the way, Happy Mother's Day!

This weekend, I seem to have been hit with that old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

If it was all bad, I would think that I'd been hit with Friday the thirteenth almost a week early, but some of it has been wildly good. I can't even list all the bad things and then all the good things, because they're so intertwined.

Here's a synopsis:

Bad: I've gotten to go the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festivel every year for the last 21 years, but it's this weekend, and this year I'm missing it! I've been bummed out about that.

Bad: The liaison between the apartment building and the residents left early Friday, and I missed her, so I don't know how they want to settle things, and won't know before Tuesday. This might ultimately be either good or bad, but the problem is that I don't know, so I can't plan.

Very Good: My cell phone contract with T-Mobile ran out a while ago. I wanted to replace my phone with a Galaxy Tab (tablet computer, like an Android-based iPad). Friday, it cost $300 up front, with a $100 rebate. On Saturday, though, it was $150 (refurbished). I called them up, and the bottom line was that I paid $45 up front, and I'll be paying $15 more for the next three months (because it lowered my monthly bill: I'll actually be paying $35), after that, my bill will be $20 lower than it is now. I did this by eliminating cell phone service, although I'll still have a home phone through them. So, they'll be shipping out a Galaxy Tab tomorrow, and I should get it on Wednesday or Thursday! I've wanted something like this ever since the iPads came out. I wanted a book reader before that, but this can do that, too! I'm so happy about this!

Very Bad: Today, I woke up and turned on the TV. It happened to be tuned to Syfy, which is having a Eureka marathon, followed by a Warehouse 13 marathon, which would be good news except that my remote wouldn't operate the TiVo properly. It was acting crazy! I replaced the batteries on the remote, and it still didn't work. I unplugged the TiVo and restarted it, but it still wasn't working right. I called TiVo, and they're going to send me another one, right after I return this and they get it. Which means I won't be able to watch TV at all for more than a week! Obviously this is not the end of the world, but still not good news. Now I can't watch Eureka, Warehouse 13 or anything else.

Good and Bad: Immediately after hanging up the phone with the TiVo people, the TiVo died completely. When it died, the buzz got louder, and the lines that have been running across the screen for the past few weeks got much wider and more pronounced. Which may mean that the problem wasn't my TV, and I may not need to replace it! I still want a newer TV, but at least it may mean that I don't have to replace it immediately.

Bad: The TiVo people said they would send me a shipping label. I thought that would be great, because I could have the TiVo all packed up and when the UPS person arrived with it, I could just slap on the label and have them take it with them. But they're not sending me a label, they're sending me an image of a label, via email! Which leads me to the next piece of news.

Bad: I'm out of ink cartridges for my printer, so I can't print the label until I get new cartridges!

Bad: Holly and I planned to go out today and have a nice, fun Mother's Day, and incidentally stop by WalMart, where I intended to get new ink cartridges for my printer, along with some other more needed items. But, right after the TiVo died completely, which was right after I got off the phone with them, Holly called to tell me that her Hummer is infested with stink bugs! She doesn't even want to open the door, let alone try to drive it anywhere, so I won't get to see her today, and won't get to go to WalMart.

Back a while ago, I think it was on their first 4-wheeling trip, but certainly an early one, a few stink bugs got into the Hummer. They've been hiding in the doors, but haven't been a real problem. Once in a while you would see one. But since the warmer weather, they've thrived and multiplied, and now are busy building a whole new stink bug civilization in their new, Hummer universe.

Good: If they can get the infestation out of the vehicle, I'll get to see Holly next week, and we'll get to celebrate Mother's Day then.

Bad: Not only do I need the ink cartridges, there are some really important things that I'm almost out of, so I have to go to WalMart tomorrow! And, since I'll have to do it on the bus, it'll take all day, and I won't be able to send the TiVo off until Tuesday, which will delay getting a new one even more.

Maybe Good, Maybe Bad: I may be able to call UPS and get them to pick up the TiVo on Tuesday, but they might not do it, in which case, I'll have to spend another day on the bus to send it. I won't know until then.

Good: In a fit of minor depression, I ordered a used copy of Charted Knitting Designs from Amazon to make up for not being able to go to the MSWF, and also ordered a used copy of the first part of The Deathly Hallows on DVD. They won't arrive until later this week, though (at the earliest).

Good: Once the Galaxy Tab arrives, I'll order a Nook book copy of the newest Charlain Harris book, Dead Reckoning. I could order it now. My current smart phone, a G1 already has several Nook books on it, but I currently have some books from the library and other things I want to read in the meantime, so, it's no real sacrafice to wait until I have something to read it on that's a bit bigger than the tiny page on my phone. If I still have any money at that point.

Bad: I tried to contact Comcast to see if I could get a decoder box temporaraly, but they don't have business hours on Sunday, so I don't know if there's some way to get to watch TV sometime before next week. I almost don't know how to deal with contacting Comcast over a problem they didn't cause (although it's not impossible that they caused it). I'm so used to them messing up badly all the time.

I'll be back with more updates soon.

In the meantime, I hope you're having an absolutely perfect weekend, not like mine!

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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!

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!

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!

Sad Thursday

I got up yesterday, and almost immediately, the TiVo I ordered arrived! I was going to link to information on the one I got, but they're not available anymore, and I got one of the last ones. There's a new model out instead, but that's not what I bought.

This was both good and bad.

Good because it arrived, and bad because it and my TV don't have any connectors that are compatible.

As I've probably mentioned before, the RCA plug inputs on my TV are broken, and the only input to the TV is now coaxial cable. The TiVo has no coaxial out, only RCA plugs, S-video and a couple of other connectors. But since none is coaxial, I can't plug them together.

The tech people at TiVo told me that I need an RF Modulator. They said I could get one from Radio Shack for $10. Well, it turns out that's true and not true. They do have one for $10, but it's not available on line, and very few of their stores have it. The listing said to not even bother to go to the store without checking beforehand to make sure that the particular store had it.

I checked with Amazon (and some other places), and found some very basic RF modulators for as much as nearly $200. But I also found two really neat ones on Amazon that are available for somewhere between $20 and $25! Actually, if I had known about RF modulators, I would have bought one long before now.

The two I saw have 4 input sections (which accept several different kinds of input) on the back with an RF (coaxial cable) out to the TV, and four buttons on the front so that you can push them and switch between the different inputs! So, I can plug in my DVD player, my DVD recorder, and the TiVo, and I can not only use the TiVo, but I can watch DVDs again! The very idea makes me so happy!

But, unfortunately, I don't have about $30 or so to spend on a modulator plus shipping, so I'm going to have to wait until next month to be able to do all this.

I'm not usually a sad person, but for some reason I don't understand, spending all my free money this month on a TiVo and then finding out I can't use it until next month is making me so sad, all out of proportion to the situation. I don't know why, but I think it's me, and not the situation.

So, I've been amusing myself by reading the instruction book that came with it. If it works the way it says, it'll be amazing!

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I'm still thinking about and working on (mentally) the Lion Brand Yarn Imagination Contest. I keep thinking there must be a winning idea somewhere in the back of my brain. If there is, it's been doing a great job of hiding from me. I've been looking for information I don't have in hopes it'll spark an idea.

But you might be interested in checking it out.

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Well, at least there is some good stuff on TV tonight.

Stargate Universe is on SyFy right now and has been all day and will continue into the evening with a new episode which will be followed by a new Merlin.

There will reruns of Medium (CBS?) and Supernatural (the CW) on toninght, too.

Not much, I know.

Buck up, July is coming, and that's when all the good stuff will be back. And I'll have my TiVo up and running just in time! Can't wait!

Have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Yarn Imagination Contest!

I hadn't planned on posting today, but I came across this Yarn Imagination Contest by Lion Brand Yarn, and wanted to let you know.

I'm seriously thinking about entering, but don't have an idea of what to knit. You might say I'm waiting on inspiration.

It's all right, because I'll wake up in the middle of the night or tomorrow with a smashing idea.

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Sanctuary marathon is on SyFy today!

Not a lot on TV other than that, though.  We have to wait until next month for sweeps, then all the good stuff will be back on TV. A few series will be back late this month, though. I'll keep you up to date.

That doesn't help us much right now, though.

What might help me soon is the new (refurbished) TiVo I ordered last Friday. It shipped yesterday, and they estimate that it'll be here tommorrow. Then I just have to get the card(s) installed, and I can get special programming from TiVo, even if there's nothing I want to watch on TV.

I might have been satisfied to keep my Comcast DVR, but it's still having severe problems accessing the digital TV guide. I do have to say that since the repairman came last week, the picture and sound been much better, but it still doesn't want to let me know what's on. I tried to find out which Sanctuary episodes were on today, and in spite of the fact that one of them was on, it wouldn't tell me about any of them. And it's been refusing to let me know what's coming on tomorrow, like the other one did. Judging by the two I've tried, Comcast DVRs seem to have to choose a Wednesday during which they will not display any guide info! I have to fight with the DVR to get it to display any information more than two days ahead, and sometimes it won't display information for now, let alone two hours from now.

I hope you're having a great week!

It's supposed to display programming info for the coming week, but usually doesn't. TiVo is supposed to display info for the coming two weeks! And it's supposed to have lots of programming available through TiVo, too! I can't wait!

Waiting. . . for Comcast

Comcast is sending out a supervisor to check the wiring in the building I live in. This is a major improvement in their service, and it only took three and a half years.

I talked to them Sunday about this, after the CW was freezing and changing the sound levels drastically, at random while I tried to watch Legend of the Seeker. It's entirely possible that this was really the network, and not Comcast, but this is the first time they didn't insist it was the network and not them. They seem to have changed their approach to dealing with problems on the phone and are now actually dealing with problems on the phone. Before, calling them only got you excuses for why it wasn't their fault, and therefore, they didn't have to fix anything.

Monday night, I called them on the phone after the DVR forgot that I had told it to record three programs that night, I reprogrammed it to record those three shows, and it recorded two of them and failed to record the third until I manually started it recording, and then stopped 1/4 of the way through and gave me a black screen, then displayed a notice that "This DVR is NOT authorized to operate on Comcast" and then, turned itself off! I requested that they bring along a new DVR to replace the hopeless, waste of space and money  that they had given me.

Now, I'm not so sure that I want to replace it.

Yes, it stops part way through a show and claims that it's the end of the program, and then fights with me not to show the rest, even though it's recorded the rest. Yes, it has erased some shows that I wanted to keep. Yes, it fails to show me the some (sometimes all) information in the digital TV guide, thus making it difficult to impossible to record shows. Yes, even though it usually shows me some guide information, it never shows it all. Yes, it turns itself off at random during recording a show but usually turns itself back on after a few minutes and records the rest so that you have a few minutes that aren't recorded at all. And much more.

But it malfunctioned from the very beginning. It's just as bad now as it was when I first got it.

So, the question is, do I want to trade a malfunctioning DVR that's got lots of stuff I want to watch on the hard drive (including some shows I haven't seen) for a malfunctioning DVR with nothing on the hard drive. And I should take into consideration that there's nothing to watch on TV tonight that's worth tuning in for, except In Plain Sight and Jeopardy.

Especially considering that the woman at the counter at Comcast told me that when they get DVRs that are returned because they're malfunctioning, they wipe the hard drive and give them out to the next customer who asks for one. I was flabbergasted! I'm not surprised that they do that, but I am surprised that they let customers know that they do it!

There's no Comcast truck outside yet. They always park it where it's going to block traffic until they leave, which makes it visible from my window. He's got one hour left of the time frame they told me he would arrive. And I still haven't decided.

I bought a "TiVo" from an independent manufacturer on Amazon, and I've discovered that some TiVos have severe connectivity problems, and the one I bought is one of them. All of the ways I can connect this one will mean I can only watch or record one show at a time.

I discovered that the TiVo people are having a sale on their boxes. They are introducing their new, "Premier" series of TiVos, and they really want to get rid of all the older boxes so they can charge more for the new ones.

I was all excited last night, because a refurbished lowest end TiVo only costs $50. But I had a problem ordering it online, and I called them.

Their representative explained to me that the lowest priced one was essentially the same box I already have, and has all the connectivity problems of that box. The one I already have has a DVD recorder/player in it, though, and I'm planning on connecting it later today to see if I can get the DVD recorder/player to work to at least play DVDs.

The TiVo box that will do what I thought the other one would do costs $100 (refurbished). So, I'm thinking about getting that one next month when I have some money, unless they've sold out of them by then.

Still no repairman. I'm still trying to decide if I want to replace the malfunctioning DVR with a different malfunctioning DVR.

Hope you're having a better day than I am.

It's Wednesday! Also Known as "Guess the TV Show" Day!

I'm currently playing "Guess the TV show" due to the fact that there is no digital TV guide data being displayed by Comcast today!

After three phone calls, the best they can do is blame it on my DVR (that they just gave me--brand new), and send someone out on Monday. That someone will probably decide that the only way to fix it will be to take away all my recorded programming and give me a completely different defective DVR.

All this past week, it hasn't been displaying any programming for Wednesday. I unplugged it and restarted it after I got tired of this, and after the fifth or sixth attempt, it did display information for Wednesday, briefly. But now that Wednesday's here, it's not displaying any information for any channel or day. At all!

So, here's some information I found for you when companies do this to you and won't give you satisfaction:

You can complain about it to the FTC here. Once you're at that page, there's a big brown box on the upper right side of the page to click for the actual complaint form.

It probably won't do much good in a case like this, but if everybody complains about bad service, sooner or later the numbers of complaints may get them to do something about it. We can only hope!

After the third call I made to them about this (to get their email address because the FTC form asked for it and it's not available anywhere, not even if you call them and ask for it), the person I spoke to promised me that they'd have a supervisor call me. That was several hours ago. I'm not holding my breath. And the typical response for a really severe and repeated complaint is for Comcast to classify it as the "highest priority." Please notice that that classification doesn't entail actually doing anything about it. It's just changing the priority to make you feel like it's important to them, even though they couldn't care less.

Regardless of what happens, I plan to get a TiVo if I can ever save the money for it.

After looking for TiVos on Amazon, I found this DVD-R/RW Recorder/TiVo Series2 DVR Combo for significantly less than those available from TiVo. Yes, I know it's used and not ATSC, but it represents a significant improvement over the piece of junk that came from Comcast.

And you can get two weeks of digital TV guide with TiVo! And with that box, I'll be able to watch my DVDs again (if I can ever get them back from Holly).

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I'm sorry. It's almost 5:30, and I'm just now recovering from waking up and finding my TV service only semi-operational! Sorry to be so cranky.

I had planned to talk about something else, but I can't think what it was at this point.

Tomorrow three programs start their new seasons: Burn Notice (USA), and Vampire Diaries and Supernatural, both on the CW (?). I know that because I marked it on a calendar, not because I could get any TV programming information on cable! I know Burn Notice is on USA, and I think the other two are on CW, but I can't verify that because my digital TV guide doesn't work!

Yes, it's on the CW. I checked online!

On Friday, we'll have the premier of Caprica on SyFy! And, if memory serves, Dollhouse and Ghost Whisperer will be preempted. Fox is really leaving us in suspense on Dollhouse!

I hope you're having a better day than I am!

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Addition:

I take back some of what I said. Maybe complaining to the FTC does do some good.

I got a call back from one of the supervisors at Comcast, and he apologized for the problem and took $15 off of this month's bill! That's the first time I've ever had them do something like that!

It was probably the fact that I called them to ask for their email address and explained it was to fill in the complaint form for the FTC.

I'd rather just have good service from them, but the money off does make me feel better because if they do that with everyone who has complaints that they can't solve, it's going to affect their bottom line, and I don't think there's any better leverage to get a corporation to shape up.

TGIF!

I've had a week full of getting up early or earlier than usual, and I just want some sleep!

For all you knitters out there, here's a collection of great patterns to make Christmas gifts. These are, for the most part, smaller projects that have lots of WOW appeal. If you don't see what you like, click on one anyway because each project has photos of other projects below it that are good ideas. One of the links is messed up, but if you click random other links, you'll find it below the featured pattern.

If you dig a few layers under all the links they provide, you'll find the Cinchy Hat, which I think would look great in a solid color, too.

Oh, and there are other pattern links on the side. I like this page so much that I'm putting a link to it in the sidebar.

There are only 35 days until Christmas!

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For any of you that live in the LA area, there's a Serenity and Firefly convention this weekend! There will be stars from the show! Enjoy! I envy you!

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I went to the Comcast meeting yesterday. It was basically to sell stuff to the people here. The representative didn't know anything about TiVo for use with Comcast.

She said I had to call and talk to a representative over the phone. I did exactly that, and found out that if I trade in my Scientific Atlanta DVR for the newest Cisco model, I'll get a more reliable box, and a hard drive that's several times larger! Since the box is free, I'm leaning toward that option at the moment.

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The usual (mostly) Friday night line up is on tonight. We have a new Ghost Whisperer and Medium on CBS, new Sanctuary and Stargate Universe on SyFy, and new White Collar and Monk on USA. That should keep your DVR busy!

Have a great Friday night and a wonderful weekend!

Quiet Tuesday

I've been doing some investigation on TiVo, and it sounds like a good deal.

Essentially, it would just be replacing my junky, chronically malfunctioning DVR from Comcast (which has a maximum recording space of 50 hours) with an excellent, top-of-the-line DVR from TiVo (which has an SD recording capacity of 180 hours, and can be expanded with a terabyte hard drive to almost infinity).

The details (if I understand it correctly) would include not paying Comcast $16 per month for the DVR, but $2 (?) for card(s) and TiVo $13 per month. If the info on TiVo is right about the card price, I would have a net savings of $1 per month. The catch is that I would have to buy the TiVo box for $150 (refurbished). Aside from the initial fee, it sounds like a fabulous deal.

Bear in mind that a new DVR (even if it is a TiVo) will not prevent Comcast from failing to broadcast closed captioning on a particular channel, or prevent them from doing THREE weekly tests in less than two hours, or any of the other junk they do. But it will at least give me a great DVR.

I'll be checking the details when I talk to the Comcast representative who will be here on Thursday. I suspect that his real agenda will be to sell us more stuff, but since that's not my agenda, I don't think that's going to happen.

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This will be a busy week for me. Tomorrow, I get the permanent caps on my teeth and one last cavity filled at my dental appointment. I will then actually be able to bite into something without fear of my front teeth breaking. Well, I will after a few days, when my gums heal. They have to drill and do other work below the gum line, so I know that my gums will not be happy for a few days.

Thursday, there will be a Comcast representative here to discuss our service with us. I have to organize my thoughts, and calm myself to keep from screaming at him.

And Friday is the yearly inspection of our apartments. Oh, joy!

I shouldn't complain. It's partly to keep things working well. They check the seals on the refrigerator, and stuff like that.

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The Science Fiction Week on TV, courtesy of io9!

If you read the page at i09, you'll find that they were not overly impressed with The Prisoner last night. I'm hoping it will improve tonight. Throughout the original Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan fights back, whereas this particular number 6 was beginning to cave in the second episode. It might have the capacity to

And I made a mistake. It will be rerun again tonight, but only once, at 6pm (here), followed by a new episode, shown twice. But the rest of tonight includes four hours of Ghost Whisperer reruns on SyFy, brand new episodes of Heroes, The Big Bang Theory, and Castle.

In the meantime, I have lots to do.

Have a great evening!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day to all veterans and currently serving military no matter where you might be! I wish you the best now and in the future. May you all come back safe and sound!

For an article about some of my more flamboyant adventures while in the Air Force click here. I might mention that I actually did some stuff that was actually useful to the Air Force, and before I was in the military, I did some stuff that was even more useful to defend our country.

I got a job right out of high school working as a technical illustrator for a small printing company doing the assembly, wiring, and other diagramming for all the manuals for the BMEWS Project.

I hope the weather where you are is nicer than it is here for Veterans Day. Here it's chilly, overcast, and drizzling! Makes me not want to go out at all!

I had planned to go to the library and grocery store, but if the weather is better tomorrow, I think I'll do it then.

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The repairman from Comcast came on Monday, and said that the only way he could "repair" my DVR would be by replacing it. I wasn't really happy about the idea of giving up all the shows on the hard drive. There was at least half of one show that I hadn't watched, and some others that I wanted to watch again. He said I didn't have to decide now, that I could try to get along with the machine I had and If I changed my mind, I could get a new one later. He said most of my problems were because I had the machine set to keep programs until I erased them. Possibly, but I really don't think that that's why it says I only regain 1/4 of the space used to record a program when I erase it. He says it is, though.

The new DVRs they have are made by Motorola, and mine was from Scientific Atlanta. He said that the two DVRs were identical, just made by different companies. You would think that they'd go for some kind of improvement, but NO. I looked around the internet and discovered that the "new" DVR is just as unreliable as the old one (maybe more), and has it's own set of idiosyncrasies. I'm not sure I want to change.

But, while looking around the internet, I found out that you can use TiVO on Comcast. I have to find out more about that. I suspect that you have to pay the fee for TiVO service, and I know that you have to buy the box yourself. If there's anybody out there using TiVO on Comcast, give a shout, and let me know how the arrangement works! Clearly, I have to do some more research on this. But if there are still any questions, there will be a representative from Comcast here on the 19th to talk to all their disgruntled customers in this building.

Maybe he can explain why they have done their "weekly required test" and then repeated it and hour and 10 minutes later, and then again, 45 minutes later! Three tests in less than two hours doesn't strike me as a "weekly test." The answer I get to that one is that the government requires it. No, not true! Otherwise, why call it a weekly test?

I have to laugh at the FIOS commercial where their representative is asking their customers about how they like the service, and the cable guy wants to know why they care what the customers think. I've dealt with some other cable companies, and they seem to provide quality service and care about their customers. But Comcast really doesn't care if they provide what you're paying for, or how bad their service is.

The people who are supposed to fix things over the phone are actually there to provide excuses so that you can never get anything fixed. Their DVRs (and cable boxes) malfunction on a whim, and it's not just that there's a bad box or two floating around. They all malfunction, and they do it from the beginning. I have never seen a DirecTV box malfunction! The DirecTV boxes are the best out there in my experience, but I've never had an actual TiVO.

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Well, there doesn't appear to be any science fiction on TV today at all! I thought there was an SF movie on SyFy today, but I tuned in, and it's a documentary on possession, like Ghostfacers in Supernatural.

Eastwick is not on tonight, due to the Country Music Awards. I'm disappointed!

Sorry I'm so boring today. I think it's all the rain and overcast today. Days like today always made me wish I could play hooky, and stay home from work. It's one of the few perks of being retired.

I have to run to check the mail!

I hope something cheerful happens to you today!

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Addition:

The news has just broken that Fox has decided that they will cancel Dollhouse after this season. At this point, they're saying that they'll show all 13 episodes of this season, and that the decision to cancel it has come early enough for Joss to wrap up the story for the series. There are only two episodes that haven't already been filmed, so I tend to wonder about that.

Fox has been notorious for sabotaging their own shows and then canceling them when their sabotage is effective, and seems to be fairly schizophrenic at best. It looks from the outside (where I'm standing) like they're over endowed with a combination of greed and fear.

In related news, Joss wrote up info on a project called Goners, and submitted it to Universal, who are not doing anything with it, but haven't freed up the rights so that Joss can use it. See more information about it here. The site doesn't include an email or street address for Universal, but does contain all the information you need to make your opinion known on Twitter.