So Much TV Fail

First off, I love the DVR overall. Being able to set recordings and fast forward through commercials has revolutionized how I watch TV. With that said, Comcast’s DVR boxes are absolutely horrible. Two things about the boxes really piss me off:

1. Horrible interface lag: I don’t know who designed the POS software that these boxes use, but the interface regularly lags for over 10 seconds. This is extremely frustrating as it happens very often. I’ve read that Comcast has acknowledged the lag problem. That’s good, but I’d like a solution; it doesn’t help that there are posts from 3 years ago regarding this problem…
2. Inability to understand the word “Repeat”: I hate when you tell the DVR to only record new episodes and it still goes ahead and records the whole evening of The Hills reruns that Bunky (not I!) has already seen. It’s not even a matter of poor guides, as the digital guide clearly states that the episodes are repeats. However, I have heard that this is a problem for other DVR-type services as well.

Some rumblings I’ve read say that this is not all Comcast’s fault. Whatever, the interface is still a piece of crap.

Special Fees

So I got a letter from a collection agency yesterday, telling me to pay up or they’d bust my kneecaps. The odd thing was, the overdrafted account was a bank account I closed 2 years ago when I moved to Pittsburgh (50 miles away from the nearest CancelledBank branch). It turns out, I was assessed 2 dormancy charges of $5, and then my account went negative. This let the bank assess me a $40 overdraft fee as well. So basically, I got charged $50 for not using my account because I thought it was closed. Fantastic, thanks! Fortunately, a call to the bank seems to have straightened everything out, even if they did get to keep my $8 or whatever that was left in the account before. The crappy part is that I have to watch out to make sure this doesn’t happen again and also to verify that this doesn’t affect my credit score.

The collection agency was called A.R.M. which I thought was funny, but only because I didn’t really owe any money.

Held Hostage

I had some really tough times uninstalling programs yesterday. I thought uninstalling was supposed to be easy! Yesterday, I tried to get rid of Hellgate, but somehow this borked my BF2142 install. BF2142 would never get to the splash screen, it would adjust the screen resolution and then crash right to the desktop (no error message). I tried uninstalling and reinstalling. When I reinstalled, I realized I didn’t have the booklet with the serial number, but I found a sneaky trick on a website that showed how to use System Restore to go back to before the uninstallation and use Regedit to find the serial number.

Reinstallation didn’t fix the problem, but using System Restore to go back to before the uninstallation of Hellgate did. Unfortunately, now I cannot see my mouse pointer in the starting screens, making it rather difficult to log in (fortunately the buttons light up when you hover over them). I have no clue how to fix this!

Down the Drain

Last night, Bunky lost the back to one of her diamond earrings down the drain. Apparently these backs are hard to replace, since the thread has to be exact; I guess jewelers don’t believe in standard protocols. I wanted to crack open the P-pipe thing, but then I realized I had no tools for the job. It’s amazing that they don’t have some flip out handles or something on the fasteners… Who the heck has a wrench large enough to fit around those connectors anyway?!

Bunky reasoned that even if we got the back out, she didn’t want to put something that was in toxic sludge back on her ear. I told her not to fiddle with her jewelry in front of a sink.

Control Freaks

Bunky and I finally got a chance to experience a taste of the Condo Association’s wrath. And by Condo Association, I mean the two residents who actually have time to go to the meetings. The newest target for elimination: doormats. The hallways are considered common property, so no residents are allowed to have doormats in front of their door. It’s stuff like this that makes us want to move into a house as soon as we can scrape the funds together (hopefully within 5 years).

Interestingly enough, almost every single occupied condo has had a doormat in the hall for over a year…

Bored, Bored, Bored

I feel like I’ve been in such a funk the last few weeks, and I’m sure it’s partly because of the usual suspects. The weather has been mostly overcast, and the days seem so much shorter. Also, classes start up again today. However, what has really been getting me down is this damned writers’ strike! Now I don’t think of myself as a big TV enthusiast, but I like to supplement my daily activities with a show or two. Also, I suspect that Bunky’s boredom is rubbing off on me, in spite of her new DS (probably the only thing keeping her sane at this point).

The other problem is that I’ve reached a bit of a lull in my other hobbies as well. Right now is the sort of dead period in between anime seasons, so I don’t have anything to really watch or write about. I’ve also tired somewhat of Hellgate:London, because Normal mode was fun but playing all the same levels again is not that great. The monsters don’t really have any new tactics, so only loot collection keeps me going. I saw Ender revert back to some BF2142, and I may consider storming some Titans in the near future (u c wut I did there).

I was having fun with Mario Kart for a while on the DS, but after beating 50cc and 100cc, I met my match at 150cc. I’m not really that good at racing games, and I swear the computer cheats on Hard difficulty. It is just so heartbreaking to be in first place on the last lap of the last race, only to get hit by a spined blue shell, then a red shell, then a green shell right before the finish line (causing your character to finish second overall in the Grand Prix, meaning no new unlocks). Plus, my hands hurt after playing DS too long.

Yesterday was the first big TV night in a while. I watched two really enjoyable reruns of Iron Chef: America, where Wolfgang Puck and Ming Tsai defeated their Iron Chef competitors. It was cool watching some famous chefs for once, and the Iron Chefs were working much harder than usual. Wolfgang did a tremendous job (though Morimoto fumbled with his dish choice), while Tsai got thrown a nice soft underhand lob with the choice of duck as the secret ingredient. Desperate Housewives was ok, with several new twists this episode, but I’m not that big a DH fan. Bunky and I also caught the premiere of Cashmere Mafia. I wasn’t wowed by it, but it wasn’t that bad either. I told Bunky it felt like Big Shots, but with female main characters. She agreed, but I think it could do really well against the weakened competition, sorta like the Knicks in the lockout-shortened season of 1999.