Sucking less, on a budget

I am totally stoked that Josh Malina is talking over Rob Lowe's spot on West Wing. Nobody delivers Aaron Sorkin's lines like Malina, except perhaps Rob Lowe. Now we just need a season-long cameo by Peter Krause and I'll be seriously giddy. Shoe money tonight!

Can I mention how much my TiVo really loves me? I had missed the last two "encore" performances of this week's The Sopranos and was all set to catch tonight's repeat. I even marked it on my calendar. What do I find when I wake up this morning and come downstairs? My TiVo grabbed last night's showing. Feel the love. Go on. Feel it.

Happy thanksgiving to everyone in case i don't get a chance to blog tomorrow.

Still basking in the glow of my new dish, I've ordered the Zenith HD520. It's $100 cheaper than the Sony and the only differences are a button on the remote (I can just get the IR codes for my Pronto) and a DVI cable (my Mits doesn't have a DVI port). So that pretty much does it. It should be here by the end of the week, if all goes well. Sopranos in HD, baby. Awww yeah.

I can't wait for this friday, when I'm going to see the new Bond movie. I'm a huge Bond fan, and also a huge Brosnan fan. While I've seen mixed reviews, reviews from actual Bond fans (as opposed to movie reviewers predisposed to disliking the franchise as a whole) indicate that this may be one of the best Bonds yet.

Now that I have Comedy Central, my TiVo is once again catching episodes of South Park. Mother of god. No, I mean it. Mother of holy fucking god. I love the show, but it's taken a turn for the...well...disturbing. It's just plain disturbing.

I had a lot to blog about yesterday, but now I can't seem to recall any of it. Shrug

Sweet, sweet revenge
Now that I have satellite, I can return my cable box. Since I wouldn't be home today, I told the rep at Advanced Broadband that I would return the box to my HOA and they could pick it up from there. They agreed, and I figured it was all taken care of.

This evening, I returned home to find a note on my door:

Sorry we missed you! We came by at 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00

Bwahahahahah. Now isn't that ironic? The cable guy waiting for me! Bwahahahahah

I never knew it would be that drastic of a difference, having sound come out of five speakers instead of just one. My rooms are filled with sweet, sweet surround sound. Picture quality blows away my crappy cable. I'm in heaven, except I don't think my C LNB is working, and there ain't no way I can get up on my roof to fix it.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but The Sopranos just doesn't seem up to the level of seasons past. It seems forced at times, flat at others. I'm still hooked, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing near the gripping feeling I had watching that first season.

Things are still going well with my new girlfriend. Who'd ever have thought?

Yahooooo!
I have DirecTV. I have stereo sound. I have clear picture. I have stereo!!

The install took 3 hours and we never could get the 3rd LNB working. I wonder why. Now I have to figure out how to get the hardware that showed up on my doorstep Friday back to Expert Satellite. When before I couldn't get anyone to sell me anything, I'm now swimming in hardware and had to turn installers away.

But it's over, and I have stereo. Next up, the Sony HD200 and HDTV.

Satellite, One Week Later
Boy what a week. Here's recent events in a nutshell.

1. I was supposed to be contacted w/in 3 days for installation. It took 5. I called DirecTV and was passed to another company who then passed me to a local company to setup install. We scheduled something for this coming Monday (a week later).
   
2. Later Monday afternoon, I was called by yet another installer who claimed they were my installer. I told them they must be mistaken, but they swore they were and that the hardware was on its way to them. Fine, I said, let's just double-check the order: 3 LNB elliptical dish....whhhaaa? The order says round dish? No, I told them, there must be a mistake. I asked the sales agent at DTV three separate times that I was getting an elliptical dish. Ok, I'll call DTV.
   
3. Called DTV and verified the invoice really did say a round dish. The helpful sales agent said she'd change the invoice and all would be well. I asked her to double-check that changing the invoice would actually resend the hardware. She said it would, but offered to ask. After 5 minutes on hold, she told me she was mistaken and that the only way to make things right would be to cancel the current order and open a new one. Ok, I said, at which point she told me she had to send me back to sales since she couldn't sell me anything. Whaaa? Fine.
   
4. Back to DTV sales. I asked for a 3 LNB elliptical dish and was told I couldn't get one. Whaaaaa? She could give me a 2 LNB dish, but I would have to sign up for Para Todos and get 30 extra spanish channels. Whaaa? No, I'm sorry, I told her, that can't be right. The other agent had no problems selling me the dish (though she really didn't, maybe that was a clue). Fine, I said, bring on España! I asked about the C LNB kit for adding a third LNB to an elliptical dish and was told it didn't exist. Then she told me that she couldn't actually sell me anything because my order had yet to be cancelled. Sure, it would be cancelled in the DTV Support system, but not in the sales system. I had to wait 24 hours. This was unacceptible and I asked to speak to a manager. The manager told me the exact same thing, and also professed to have no clue about the C LNB kit. When he put me on hold for 10 minutes to talk to Support, I hung up.
   
5. I called Expert Satellite back, the company who first took my order but then cancelled it the next day because they thought I was in a Pegasus area. I swore to them that they could sell to me, and got them to re-instate my order with the promise to do research about if they could sell.
   
6. 8am Wednesdsay morning, Expert Satellite calls, waking me up, to ask what county I'm in.
   
7. I happen to go to Circuit City after lunch and suddenly, my world changed. Not only did they have the C LNB kit, they had elliptical dishes and receivers up the wazoo. On an impulse, I signed up for service on the spot and took the hardware home with me. Bird in the hand, figured Matt (who came with me) and I.
   
8. Arrived home on Wednesday evening, there was a message on my machine from Expert Satellite: my hardware was on its way. Uh oh. What to do? What to do? Bird in hand, right? Called to cancel the order at Expert Satellite, but the hardware had already shipped. They told me they'd cancel and for me to just refuse when Brown shoped up at my door with a boatload of hardware.
   
9. Later Wednesday night, I decided to do some research on the RCA receivers I'd purchased at Circuit City. Apparantly, they're terrible. Always rebooting, slow as donkeys, overheating problems. The Hughes receivers ES was going to send me had no bad complaints. Shit, I'd already cancelled everything. Oh well.
   
10. This morning called Circuit City to schedule my install. They're calling me Saturday morning to set a time.
    

Whew. What I'm fully expecting is to call DTV on Saturday to set up my service and to find that they won't sell me service because of my four open orders. Sigh. What's next?

Oh Happy Day!

Oh Happy Day!
So it appears all I had to do was call DirecTV directly. They had no problem selling me a system and were confused that anyone (including their own website) said I was in a Pegasus area. They sold me a 2 reciever system with 3 LNB elliptical dish plus free installation for less than any place on the internet, even the last place that turned me down. Ohhhh Happy Day!!!!

Election night. I hope you all voted.

Jussi gave me a good idea on how to get around my little DBS problem. I'll keep you all posted if it works.

Got my Sports Night DVDs. Haven't watched them yet, but I'm as giddy as a shoolgirl.

We released Chimera 0.6 last night. I think it's easily leaps and bounds better than 0.5, and getting better with every passing day.

I added more Fall pictures from my trip into Maryland. They're at the bottom of the page.

Adding insult to injury, I can't buy DBS hardware from most places because I live in a "Pegasus area" which is a special short-bus area for rural customers. Rural?! I'm not fucking rural! Guess I'll have to do some more shopping. Sigh. All because Advanced Broadband sucks donkey.

On a happier note, my Sports Night DVDs shipped today. Shoe money tonight!

For those who want a glimpse of some fall foliage, I took some pictures. I'm going up to Maryland today, I'll probably take some more.

Halloween party last night, I was Sugar Bear, Pimp of the Year. I think I passed the gauntlet of her friends. They seem to approve.

Finally ordered my satellite dish, it should be here next week. As soon as I get it installed, I'll order the Sony HD200. I'm excited. It'll be nice to once again have Comedy Central and stereo sound. If I can swing it, I may also get the DC locals (Ashburn, according to the website, is outside the DC Metro area, which is bullshit, but stay tuned...) and I'll get MPT which has Dr. Who on it every Saturday night! Yay!

There's a new coffee table book that I'm buying ASAP.