Blu-ray folly

Did you know Blu-ray players need a firmware upgrade after you purchase them? It may take days to weeks for the "Upgrade Firmware" message to appear on your screen. Meanwhile, you'll have viewed hours of video before you see the warning which seemingly has no reason for appearing.

It seems there are two different ways to upgrade firmware: 1) download the firmware upgrade to your computer, burn the image to a CD or DVD (this is important, there's a difference between saving the file to your CD and burning the image to the CD) and carefully following the very specific instructions to get your player to install the upgrade. Or 2) plug your Ethernet cable into the back of the player and allow the player to complete the upgrade. Mine doesn't have the option to plug in an Ethernet cable so I'm stuck with the CD.

After talking to a few different people about firmware upgrades, including some who work in the industry, there seems to be a difference of opinion over whether or not every Blu-ray player will require a firmware upgrade. So you can't exactly purchase one over the other in the hopes of avoiding this issue.

Honestly, the concept of having to upgrade your firmware seems ridiculous to me. Has this technology been released before it's actually ready? It seems prudent to make this type of information readily available to consumers (or to at least educate us since this is the new technology that is to replace DVD). After all, the boxes usually say something like, "Easy Set Up - Requires only an HDMI cable (not included) for the incredible images and quality High-Definition video." It actually states an HDMI cable is needed and that it's not included! This is obviously important and I appreciate the warning. Why couldn't it say anything about needing an Internet connection or include a quip about a required firmware upgrade? I can understand if it's necessary but damn! Why the sneakiness? Why the weeks of viewing enjoyment and then suddenly, it doesn't work? It's bull crap if you ask me!

I feel bad for those who have purchased the player and don't have Internet access. Or those who do have access to the upgrade AND STILL CAN'T GET PAST THE UPGRADE WARNING and consequently cannot view time-sensitive videos. Thank God I can still view some videos, so far it seems to be only Twentieth Century Fox videos that I can't watch. I'm still testing others though.

In other news, there are reports that the PS3 (which includes a Blu-ray player) will drop $100 in April. If we can't get our player to work, we're going to take it back and wait for the PS3. I consider myself to have decent knowledge when it comes to basic technology but this inability to upgrade my firmware has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Grrrr.

At least I smell yummy

I'm putting the finishing touches on my memo and just found chocolate smeared all over the side of my hand. At first I suspected it was cat poo, I know, don't ask me why. Well, except that Zoe is sleeping right next to me. But then I realized that the chocolate mess was much bigger than I thought. It's melting into cracks in my laptop! While investigating, I found a HUGE clump of chocolate that had melted into my shirt. *sigh* I have no idea where this much chocolate came from. I ate a chocolate chip cookie about half an hour ago but don't remember clumps of chocolate chips falling all over the place! ARGH! Well, I guess the damage is done.

Still, no reward for the wicked, even if that does mean washing up. Must get back to memo. My goal of finishing by 5pm has sadly not been met. :(

Disappointed with PetSmart

A couple days ago an older gentleman here in San Diego took his dog to the PetSmart on Murphy Canyon Road to get groomed.

It turns out somehow the little Chihuahua got loose and ran out of the store. PetSmart didn't contact the dog's owner until two hours had passed. When the heart broken gentleman talked to the store, they told him he had signed a liability waiver and there was nothing they could do. The store further issued this statement: "...the pet escaped from the grooming salon and out the door. The family should be working with the store manager to resolve the issue." Are you kidding me? How cold!

The good news is the dog was found two days after he came up missing by the gentleman's son at a near by fast food restaurant, cowering in the bushes with a broken leg. The day after the news report ran, PetSmart hired a dog detective but of course his services weren't needed. (On a side bar, but where else than in California would there be a dog detective!). PetSmart has now offered to pay for the broken leg. (A smart move if you ask me.)

Um, they're lucky it wasn't me that lost my pet at their store. I would have totally flipped out and turned into a crying and crazed lunatic And if it was someone else, PetSmart would probably have to answer to more in the court of law. Signing a liability waiver at PetSmart is like signing a liability waiver at your doctor's office. Pulease!

...And I'm back! - the novel

So the past few weeks have been very eventful. First, I heard my Grandpa's health had deteriorated substantially, so I bought a couple tickets for myself and Apollo and we went up to Oregon to visit him. While we were visiting, he passed away. It was pretty emotional so I'll spare you the details.

Apollo and I didn't go to the funeral since I needed to get back to work. But it was more important that I see him in person and get to have some time to visit so I'm ok with that

The day we were supposed to fly out it snowed and all the major highways were closed due to white out, landslides or fallen tree's. After we got over the shock and disappointment of missing our flight, we went outside and enjoyed the scenery. It was absolutely beautiful! Once I can find my camera, I'll upload some photos.

That night we learned there was another storm coming in and since Aimee had to take a class the next day Or Else, we hopped in her Corolla and drove 10mph down Indian Creek Road and then took a long route through Some Other Town to get to Aimee's place. I'm guessing it was about a five hour drive. We spent the night and the next day managed to get a flight, at an additional fee, to San Diego. Sure, it took over five hours to get home (let's not forget the six hour lay over we had in LA on our way up) but at least we were home!

But when we got home we were in for a big surprise. See, we were supposed to get new carpet on the 8th and when our landlord heard about the storm, he started moving things out of the living room into the dining room. This made us nervous just due to the whole invasion of privacy thing, but we assured him we'd be home in time to clear everything else out. Well, when we got home at 12:30AM on the 8th, we walked in to discover everything had been moved into our dining room and on the patio minus our mattress and cushion-less couch. We couldn't find any blankets (everything was in black garbage bags on the patio) but made do with a sheet. The cats were in shock but happy to see us.

I worked the next day from Starbucks since I didn't have any clean clothes other than those I had worn in the snow and on the plane. I learned some bad news from Faythe and I can't even comfort her since I live so far away. The carpet was installed (apparently our other carpet was rotting from the bottom up) and we've started going through everything in boxes in bags. Happily, we we have consequently thrown out two bags of clothes and more.

Then I noticed something weird. The fish tank is hidden partially behind a dresser, cat tree, TV and some boxes. The light was on and everything seemed to be functioning normally, but I couldn't see any fish swimming. So I moved a box out of the way and saw all but one fish were dead! Their little fishy bodies were draped all over the bottom. I couldn't figure out what happened and thought maybe our landlord had added some city water straight from the tap after moving it. But then, I opened the lid and STEAM CAME OUT! That's right, STEAM!! We tried to turn down the thermostat but it seems to be stuck permanently on high. I'm guessing the thermostat sustained some damage while it was moved by my landlord.

SO. It appears my fish were boiled alive. One seems to have survived, I guess his tolerance to extremely high temperature is a bit higher then all the other fish. He's swimming around right now and I'm sure whatever brain cells he had have seriously been depleted. We'll see how he reacts when we buy him a buddy.

Meanwhile, we lost cable and Internet connection, possibly related to the landlord moving things around. When the cable guy came out to fix it, he left without fixing the Internet problem. After a series of phone calls and appointments that were missed by my cable company, and yet even more phone calls involving myself behaving highly inappropriate and consequently receiving a partial credit towards my account, they finally showed up today and fixed the problem. It seems the Internet problem was caused by the first cable guy failing to remove a protective piece of plastic from the cable cord.

Well, at least now I have access to my class assignments, websites I need to access to complete projects and I can work from home again. And no, Cox Cable, I am not going to upgrade to a business plan just so I can get immediate technical support and yet again pay for something I am not receiving. And yes, I work in customer support and I am on to your games of putting me on hold for 15 minutes when I ask for a supervisor and really, is that a supervisor or a teammate that has worked there longer and has more experience in calming down customers?

Anyway, now I have the blues.

Conversations I'd like to avoid

Me: Call Aimee.

Headset: Did you say, "Call Aimee?"

Me: Yes!

Headset: Did you say, "Call Audley?"

Me: No!

Headset: Did you say, "Call Graham?"

Me: No!

Headset: I'm sorry, but no matches have been found.

Me: ARGH!!

Knitting slump

Like Faythe, I've been feeling a bit anti-knit lately. It's not that I don't want to knit, I do. I think part of it was caused by some new yarn I bought in Eugene.

It's Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn and feels absolutely wonderful. My feet are going to love it! The problem is I chose a dark colored yarn so it's hard to see stitches. Every pattern I've tried is hidden in the dark stitches. It's much darker than in the photo above. I'm also having problems with it splitting. It may be due to the fact I'm trying to convert over to KP's nickel plated dpns. They're slick and I'm accustomed to safe bamboo. I'm going to keep knitting them but it'll be slow going.

A couple days ago I saw the Yarn Harlot's beautiful Early Grey socks, picked up some Socks that Rock Rose Quartz yarn that I've been saved for a special occasion and started knitting. I ran into some problems with one of her abbreviations but after much obsessing with my good buddy Google and on KnittersReview.com, figured out an alternate (hers still works, it just didn't work for me) and was on my way. Well, NOW I've realized the colors in the yarn may be hiding the pattern! ARGH! I'm going to go pick up some lunch but when I come back, it's either do or die for Earl!

And in case you couldn't tell, Zoe REALLY WANTED TO BE PET. By the time I took this last picture, she was extremely annoyed, meowing loudly and laying on the knits. I'm obviously a poor cat servant!

Sock blockers anyone?

Me: Hello, do you have any Fiber Trends sock blockers?

Lady on phone at yarn store: Sock blockers?

Me: Yes.

Lady: I've never heard of them.

Me: I'm looking at Fibertrends.com, they say you're a supplier. I was just wondering if you do sell them. I would rather buy them from a local store than online.

Lady: *silence*

Lady: What do sock blockers do?

Me: They block socks.

Lady: I knit socks. I have never blocked them. Why do you need to block socks?

Me: (getting annoyed) They're not really for me (lying because I feel stupid for wanting sock blockers, I worked hard this last week and want something frivolous). They're for someone else, they're a gift.

Lady: What do they look like?

Me: Well, they're a two dimensional shape of a sock. Basically, they're flat. And look like a sock.

Lady: Oh, let me ask someone. *muffled sound as she talks to a coworker* She wants to know if we sell trendy sock blockers, she see's them on the internet.

Lady: Sorry, no we do not have them.

Me: OK, thank you!

"Annoyed" is becoming a common self-description

I almost had a Dartha Yaya moment today. Afterwards, I realized it's because of the line of work I'm in, and that she used to be in. I know how easy it is to mess up and I can tell when someone has messed up or when a situation is about to get bad. Plus, I really need a break from being nice to people. I know that sounds terrible but I just want to spend my time off relaxing and not having to always smile when someone's being an ass or just plain stupid. The job has made me cynical. Or crabby.

Anyway, it all went down at Fry's where Apollo picked out his birthday present. He initially had no idea that's what he was going to be doing so that made it even more fun. By the time he picked out his receiver and subwoofer, I was exhausted. I felt like we had just bought a car! With our cart full of all the necessary extra cables and wire, we proceeded to the cattle round-up style checkout counters. It took a little over ten minutes for the cashier to ring up my order. He kept getting tips from one of his coworkers who pretty much had no idea what he was doing. Twice they called over their supervisor who was wearing an ill fitted fat striped tie and appeared to be all of 17 years old. The cashier swiped my card several times, mumbled to himself and kept scratching his head while looking at his register. I got nervous and said, "Are you sure you didn't ring up anything twice? I saw you scan those cables twice. I'm also concerned at how long it's taking to ring up all my items, plus you still have my credit card."

Anyway, long story short, even though I asked him three times and each time he said no that he didn't ring anything up twice, it turns out he did. Thankfully I counted up all the items on the receipt before signing and noticed an extra item and then the obvious discrepancy. I had to go to the infamous refund section of the store to get a refund that would post to my account in two to three business days. My bags were searched three times by three different people because they didn't believe I was charged twice. I was...annoyed. I know it wasn't that big a deal but, damn.

I didn't make a scene but Apollo tells me my body language did it for me. I guess I have high expectations. I'm sure Yaya knows what I'm talking about!

Apollo checking out the back side of his Onkyo receiver.

I'M IN A CRISIS HERE!!

I've just learned that my hair stylist is no longer with the salon I usually visit. HE'S GONE! They won't give me his new contact info or where he's working now - some baloney about his number being disconnected! HARUMPH!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!

I think I need more sleep or maybe just time off. Or a chill pill.

Today I went to the DMV to get the lien holder off my title. Yay! While waiting to be "chosen," this lady talked loudly in some other language on her cell phone behind me and then FARTED several times. No, not a "poot" sound, rather a "RAT TAT TAT TAT TAT" that can come from between two elderly loose cheeks. Oh it was lovely! At one point she stopped about two feet in front of me (she was pacing) - I froze, stopped knitting and started at her butt, just waiting for her to let loose.

The DMV employee was very happy and friendly until she noticed I have a parking ticket on my car from JUNE 2006! When I said, "What? ME??" she suddenly did a Jekyll and Hyde and acted miffed. Seriously lady, I had no idea I had a ticket! I've never found any tickets on my windshield nor have I received any in the mail.

Upon further investigation, I find out the ticket should have been applied to my registration last December. I give the city a call and they didn't even have record of my paying for registration despite having correct tags and having just returned from the DMV whom acknowledged I had paid them. And then, they tell me I have a second parking ticket! Is it just me or don't you think if I didn't have up to date registration stickers, the police would have given me a ticket for that as well? GAH!! The lady I talked to when calling the city was also very rude. She didn't even give me a chance, she started out the conversation with an attitude. BTW, I had ten days to alert the DMV of any changes of lien to my title but they have five weeks to send me my new title!

At the post office waiting in line to file a complaint about not receiving my mail and receiving other peoples mail all the time, I felt like screaming, "Please, can we move this line along??" Three people were slowly working the counter (I call this type of people "slow movers), one of them explaining the new rules to shipping packages (it's not about just weight anymore, the size of your package determines the price) and another explaining that a watch being shipped to the seller to get fixed because the second hand is broken cannot be insured because, get this, it's already broken.

Seriously, what are my tax dollars going towards? First of all, the DMV and the City employee's are bitchy, secondly I get other people's mail (free credit card anyone?) all the time so I can only assume my ticket notifications were sent to someone else, thirdly, what the hell!

After all this I went to the theater and saw the latest Shrek movie. I felt a little better but now that I'm writing all this up, I'm starting to feel bitter again. GRRRR!! I think I'm going to need to request some time off before certain large events start up later this month. I can feel a little hereditary "crazy" coming on. (And if you know my family, you know what I'm talking about.)

Some helpful tips for job seekers

These past few weeks I've been helping out with interviewing potential permanent and temporary employees at work. And after reviewing some applications and talking to people, I've realized why all those "How To" seminars at the unemployment agencies, high schools and colleges are available. Let's just say, I'm shocked and apalled that people still don't know The Rules to applying for a job. So, I've put together a little list of tips for job seekers:

1) Wear clean clothes that are business appropriate. Dirty clothes and holes in very obvious places leave a bad impression. So do pants hanging low enough to see your underwear. You may also want to leave your stiletto heels in the car.

2) Write in your best penmanship. Don't scratch all over your application, scribble out words or double or tripple outline letters. A simple line through the incorrect word will suffice.

3) Do take the time to learn how to give a nice firm hand shake. If nothing else avoid the following: clammy, limp, wimpy. I know physical contact can be uncomfortable but a hand shake which only lasts seconds leaves an impression that may last forever.

4) Show up on time or even early. Maybe even call the receptionist and get directions. Mapquest isn't reliable, believe me, I've suffered from it myself.

5) When filling out a Getting to Know You questionaire, please read questions carefully. If the words like "fill in each" are used, you're probably not supposed to treat it like a multiple choice question. Also, if it doesn't make sense to you, read the question again. Example:

Correctly write in "your" and "you're" in the following sentences.

_____ pizza is here.
_____ not going to believe this.

"Her" is not a correct answer.

6) Please don't correct the interviewer - you're wrong, don't fight it. Even if you're right, let it go!

Even if you don't have much experience, you may still be considered and possibly even hired - if you observe The Rules. If you don't care about the above suggestions, you probably won't care about your job performance and the interviewer will not consider you to be a serious job applicant.

And don't forget, most interviewers make their decision within the first few minutes of the interview. Take heed.

BREAKING NEWS!!!

In a world of terrorism, disease and starvation, this is the current "Breaking News" headline on MSNBC:

"Why do some celebrities look better in mugshots than others?"

and

"Paris Hilton Lockdown, Day 1"

I KID YOU NOT!

Of course, if I knew I was going to jail, I too would get my hair and makeup done in preparation for the mugshot. *rolling eyes*

OMG I just heard this conversation being reported on the news,

Female news anchor: "What, she's eating carbs?"

Female reporter: "Yeah, that's what they feed you in jail!"

STOP IT NEWS MEDIA, JUST STOP IT NOW, WE DON'T CARE! Bring me some news on how we can make our world a better one, not this trash!

RIP dear friend

Tuesday morning I woke up at 1:40AM to see what all that noise was about outside my bedroom window (a firetruck, ambulance, several paramedic's and two police wheeling one of my naked neighbor's out to the waiting ambulance) when I accidentally pushed my faithful piggy bank off the dresser. (I have been rearranging my bedroom, hence the random shoe and the bear I got from grandparents when they went to Alaska when I was 12.)

Being so early in the morning, I didn't think to look and see what that loud crashing sound meant. I was still trying to wake up and was wondering what was wrong with my neighbor and "is that his tranny roommate with her new boobies?"*

Anyway, today I took a gander and noticed that the Pig was dead and its little piggy bank guts were everywhere. I was a bit sad since I've had this bank for about six years. Poor Pig, I could always count on him to keep my money safe and sound. And he was cute too.

:( Rest In Peace my dear friend, Rest In Peace.


PS, You've already been replaced. I'm sure you understand. I also got a baby bank for my desk at work.

*More later....let's just say I really had to work hard to avert my eyes, especially since it was chilly out!

Yahoo disses west coast

War: Brought!

So much has happened since I last blogged about the worms. First, I went out to check on the plants and three of them were lying dead in the dirt. Actually, one of them was moving slowly but I think it would have died eventually. I dropped them on the ground and sprayed them with soap water, cementing their demise.

Tonight I checked on the plants again and found these two worms! Mocking me! It seems they doubt my ability to do them in!!

I was wondering how I miss them to begin with...how is it there always seem to be a new set of caterpillars? Well see that little guy in the upper right corner? That baby probably only takes a mere few days to turn into something like the monster on the left!

I called around to Home Depot, Lowes and Ace Hardware and they all recommended BT Caterpillar Killer. Unfortunately, none of them had it but thankfully, Walter Anderson did. So Apollo made an emergency trip over to one of their stores with only 40 minutes left until they closed and then had the nerve to come back with something totally different. *sigh*

Which reminds me of this other time when Apollo went to the store to pick up the ingredients for banana bread. Before he left I ranted and raved about how much I hated instant banana bread mixes and how I grew up making it from scratch. I even had the almost rotten bananas ready. Anyway, he goes to the store and returns, not with the items hand written onto a list I had given him (eggs, sugar, flour) but with, you guessed it, bags of banana bread mix! Oh yeah, I do think he had one of the items off the list too. How that was supposed to help, I don't know. His reasoning? It was on sale, 2 for 1. Both packages are still sitting in my cupboard, several years later.


Suffice to say, I was annoyed. Very annoyed. So, when he returned today not with the B.T. Caterpillar Killer but with something else, I was...well, I started to act like Faythe does when confronted with Cool Whip. The sales person at the store convinced him that it's better. For Apollo's well being, it better be. *mumbling*

Notice the bag of leaves and worms to the right that I had originally intended on taking to a nursery for identification purposes. I guess we can dispose of them. I'll let you know who wins this round!

OH IT'S ON!!

My tomato plants are being invaded by inch worms aka caterpillars!! I've been killing them when I find them and even sprayed the plants with soap water. Well, the two plants which got most of the soap water (I was experimenting to see if any of them would react badly from the soap) are not doing well. They look like they're dying! So I've started looking on the undersides for the worms and each day, EACH DAY I find huge worms!!


They're so sneaky, look we thought there were two worms on this leave but after I took the photo, I realized there were actually three! 3!! ARGH!

I have declared war on the caterpillar/worms! Apollo is enroute to Walter Anderson right now to pick up a specialty killer just for these little guys. Oh it's on! It's on like Donkey Kong!!*

*For those of you who are too young to know what Donkey Kong is.... Just forget it! Forget it I say!!

The devil yarn strikes again!

I only had to complete the row and bind off and I noticed there was a problem with one of the stitches. I don't remember exactly what the problem was, it just seemed like an easy fix, so I started knitting backwards, taking the SSK and YO stitches off the right needle and putting them on the left. When suddenly...I hit a snag.


Or more literally, a knot! I have no idea what happened or how to fix it. Maybe Faythe is right, this is devil yarn that wants to ruin my knit experience!

Giving me the finger

Big Mac gave us some sugar cane yesterday. I've never had it before so it was an interesting treat. Well, I was attempting to cut off a piece and just as I thought to myself, "I really should be careful," I cut my finger at the knuckle.

Now I'm having a hard time typing. Since I type the so called proper way (not with spider fingers like some of the guys at work) not having use of one finger is really affecting me.

I just tried knitting!! I can't knit the normal way but if I do some adjusting, I think I can do this. I think!! ARGH!!

Blogger has photo posting limitations?

Not much going on but some mindless stockinette. I'm falling in love with Baby Cashmerino all over again.

As I was uploading the last picture, I saw this notice about how much space I'm using for my photos I've uploaded. This is news to me. Since this blog is tied to a couple others, are the photos there also affecting my storage? I know I'm only using 11% but GAH! I hate to see limitations!!

Judge wants a reality show

I hate to join in on the ridiculousness that has become the fight over Anna Nicole's body, but here goes nothing:

Judge Larry Seidlin is driving me crazy! Did you see him fake crying? Did you see tears? I didn't see tears! Pulease! I guess this is what you do if you want a reality show. That's right! It appears he wants to be the next Judge Judy. He should be embarassed! Hell, I'm embarassed for him! No, scratch that. I mock him! MOCK MOCK MOCK!

*gasp* How dare he make me mock him!!