After Two Months…

SP decided to contact me today via email:

Long time, no talk.  How’s it going?  Hope all’s well.  Just wanted to say hi and happy holidays!

Yeah, long time no talk is right.  I haven’t said a word to her in two months.  Interesting that she contacted me.  I responded and said things were fine, would be on vacation next week, blah blah blah.  I was almost  hoping she would stir up some drama and ask me why I stopped seeing her.  She didn’t.  I may have had to tell her why had she done that.

Saturday Music

The great AC/DC…

Saturday Punches In The Face

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter surrounding this show, but as yet I have not seen an episode of Jersey Shore.  However, I have seen the video of Snooki getting punched in the face hundreds of times.

TV Works… For Now

I will admit that I was skeptical that simply replacing the lamp with a new one would work, but it did.  End of story, right?  Wrong!

The situation was a fiasco from the start.  The new lamp arrived yesterday as promised.  I took the old one out and put the old one in.  Same lamp model, so everything should have gone smoothly.  Nope.

The first thing I noticed that was incorrect was the fact that the actual connection to the TV was backwards.  An attempt was made to correct that on the lamp, but the decision was made to change the part on the TV that mated with the lamp.  Correcting this ended up breaking a piece of plastic, so that portion of the TV floated free which made installation much, much more difficult.

But that wasn’t it!  The lamp was also out of spec in that certain things that were supposed to line up with the TV did not.  Time was spent cutting and shaping the piece so that it would fit.  By the time the lamp was actually connected to the TV, almost two hours had passed.  But hey, at least it worked.

Tiger Follow-Up

Holy Taco (yes, that’s the name of the site) has a comprehensive list here.

Ol D and I had this case wrapped up, as they say, in about five minutes.  Although it’s safe to say even we didn’t expect this list to keep expanding.

Once again, let me repeat myself: If you are a wealthy athlete do not get married.  Hell, if you are a professional athlete of any kind do not get married.  Well, except maybe a pro bowler.  Whether or not they qualify as athletes is another story.  I say no.

I think you really should check out this leaked video on Break.com.

Anyone Want A 56″ DLP HDTV?

I came home for lunch today, thinking it would be nice to get away for a bit, maybe watch a little TV.  Within five  minutes to TV just decided to shut off by itself.  A few seconds after this it tried to turn back on by itself, but nothing happened.  I tried to step in and manipulate by turning it off and on, but nothing.

Time to Google for answers.  All I got was “clean the dust out” or “make sure this blue thing isn’t above this tab” or “pull the lamp out and clean it.”  I tried it all and still nothing.  I did get the impression that Samsung DLP televisions are nothing but problems.  Do they even sell them in stores any more?  Back in the day they were a less expensive alternative to the Plasma or LCD.  Of course today the Plasma television is on its way out.

So I ordered a new lamp.  From what I read online and in the manual, when it was doing what it was doing, and three lights were flashing on the front… new lamp time.  If this doesn’t work, it’s new TV time, and I will go for the 55″ LCD.

Is Going To The Movies Worth It?

When I take in a movie in a theater, it is typically on a date.  Actually, it is always on a date.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to a movie without taking a date.  The last movie I saw, Pirate Radio, was with a date.  We didn’t get any food at the theater, but tickets alone were what, $24 total?  If you add a couple of drinks and some popcorn to the mix, it’s a $40 proposition.  Overpriced concessions aside, going to see a movie at a theater (non-matinee) is costly.

And that’s pretty much why I just wait until the Blu-Ray is released.  I can spend the same amount on my own copy of the movie, in high definition, and enjoy it on my own ginormous TV.

“But you’re missing the experience, man!”

Really?  I can’t tell you the last time I walked out of a theater saying, “You know, that was an amazing experience!”

It’s not like you can get any privacy with your date in a movie theater anyway.  Regardless of where I sit, someone always insists on sitting either right next to me or a seat or two down, even if there are a plethora of open seats everywhere else.  And unless I’m in the very last row, it is inevitable that I will be sitting in front of a row of teens who are all apparently using their cell phones for the first time.

Sports!

In the midst of this debacle in Arizona it has become clear to me that officiating has really taken a slide.  Perhaps with all of the replays used today, NFL officials have just become a little lazy when it comes to actually officiating a game.  In the first half they missed an obvious defensive pass interference call that took place against Minnesota Vikings WR Sidney Rice.  It would have resulted in a 20-30 yard gain and a new set of downs.  In the second half with the Vikings driving they missed another obvious call, once again on Sidney Rice.  Even Chris Collinsworth said as much.

In college hockey, the Minnesota Golden Gophers continue to baffle me.  One night they look awful and uninspired, while the next night they actually play hard.  Thankfully I missed Friday’s lackluster effort.  Fox College Sports decided not to play the game, even on tape-delayed status.  From what I’ve read I didn’t miss much.

Babysitting

I babysat someone on Friday night.  What did you do?

Met up with a former co-worker last night at Fibbar’s in Sunnyvale and she ended up getting drunk.  She’s not exactly “big,” so her route to the land of the drunk was pretty quick and light: two Purple Hooters and one Mai Tai.  She had two waters at the bar, then another two at my place, and some late night Wendy’s.  All the while complaining of being cold and somewhat nauseous.

At 1 a.m. I couldn’t really take it any longer and actually fell asleep.  When I woke up at 2:30 for a brief moment, she finally told me she was ready to be taken back to her car.  Whew!  So I had to get myself together and drive her to her car.  I got back home and was finally able to finish sleeping.  The drinking was fun, but man, I thought I was done babysitting.  I haven’t had to take care of someone after a night of drinking since the ex-girlfriend had issues way back in 2003.

I Suppose I Should Post Something

Posting for the sake of posting is kind of ridiculous, but it has been a few days.  I guess I could give you people a few updates.

Nothing really pressing on my mind right now.  I felt like I did reach the breaking point at work today.  I felt awful at around 11, decided to stick it out and finish some stuff and eventually head home at 12:30.  I’ve since felt much, much better at home, which was key – getting away from work for at least an afternoon.  I had a long, stressful day that started at 6 am yesterday.  Today that and all the other stressful days I’ve had in the past few months caught up with me.

Tomorrow should be better.  It’s Friday, meaning I can pretty much coast through the day, work on a few things, and leave.

Tomorrow night I’m heading out for drinks with a former co-worker that I haven’t seen in since April 2006.  It should be interesting since I didn’t really consider her someone who drank; she didn’t attend our Happy Hour functions back then.  It was supposed to be an evening at Dave & Buster’s with a whole bunch of former co-workers, but she was the only one who responded to the invite, so it’s just us.

Saturday night I’m going ice skating with someone new (we’re just friends – for now) and then having a few drinks after that.

The rest of the weekend – a good ol trip to Target and perhaps a washing of the car.  I guess not being able to watch Gopher hockey this weekend won’t be such a big deal.  I’ve got plenty to do.