Tag: weekend

Cox Cable & the SDV Adapter

Cox has been very slow in putting out the SDV (switched digital video) adapter that is needed to watch a good portion of the channels provided with a digital cable subscription.  I was so peeved that they didn’t much care about CableCard users and TiVoHD users that I even complained to the FCC about the whole thing.  I got a letter response from the FCC and also a letter from Cox in response to my FCC letter.  When SDV was being deployed in PHX, Cox CableCard users were given the option of getting a Cox box to watch the channels that were affected by this move, at no cost.  Unfortunately, this was for only a Cox box and not a DVR, that would cost extra.  The reason I have a TiVo is because I don’t watch TV live so I opted to not take advantage of their “generous offer” and did without those channels for about 5 months.

In the response letter I recieved from Cox, I was told that they were going to be deploying SDV adapters in the PHX area soon and that, as soon as they were available, I would receive notification.  Well, guess what.  No letter came letting me know the SDV adapters were available.  In fact, SDV adapters were available in the PHX area a full week before I recieved the response letter from Cox.  WTF?!  So, last weekend I went down to the Cox store in Tempe and picked up an SDV adapter.  I thought it was going to be a small little thing you would attach to the cable in.  Unfortunately, that is not the case (see image below, the cisco box).  I guess I can’t complain too much.  It’s free and I get my channels.

adapter

This Past Weekend

Friday night, I spent the evening with my friend Rachel who was in town to celebrate her son’s birthday with her family here in Phoenix.  She and her husband only make it down to Arizona once or twice a year from the Seattle area so we always have a lot to catch up on.  This year, they were heading to Wisconsin after Phoenix for a wedding so we only had a couple days where we would be able to get together.  We met at her parents house and then moved to The George and Dragon for some food and drink.  Good times.

Saturday was pretty laid back.  Mike was working until 2 and I was still trying to get over this lingering cold I’ve had since returning from Costa Rica.  It’s amazing what a good 12 hours rest will do!  I worked on my book shelf in the office trying to get it semi organized and had planned on targeting my desk, but that didn’t happen.  Later, Mike and I went over to Sylvia’s house to make her dinner, sort of a belated birthday present.  It was a good day/night.

Sunday was full of more relaxing.  Mike and I grabbed lunch with Rachel, Robert and their son Riley at Sonic.  They don’t have those up in the Seattle area and Rachel loves her some Sonic burgers.  Anyway, after lunch Mike left and I had a mini movie marathon to get through some of my Netflix DVDs.  I watched Speed Racer (totally not worth the time) and The Transporter 1 & 2 (which were pretty good for your typical action flick).  I ended my evening with the Emmy broadcast and got ready for this week of work.

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

Erin’s Birthday Dibacle

The Bar Tab Fiasco – The Story 

We had a birthday event for my friend Erin this past Friday night.  It was taking place as Geisha A Go Go in Scottsdale.  My friend Erin loves singing karaoke and this place has private karaoke rooms that you can rent.  Her plan was to rent the large room and invite some of her closest friends to participate in some karaoke fun with some drinking thrown in.  Upon arrival, Mike, Hollie, and I opened a tab for our drinks with my credit card.  I’m not sure how many other groups did the same, but it appeared that a majority of the partygoers had.  As the night moved forward, it was becoming apparent to me that rounds of shots that were being ordered were not being placed on any particular tab.  At the end of the evening, we not only had our own tabs but also a room tab that needed to be covered.  The room tab was $350 and some change!  The remaining guests all chipped in $20 towards the main bill but that was not enough to cover the whole thing.  We were still $76 short.  I ended up covering that part while another person covered the extra $$ for the tip.  Anyway, it was a complete fiasco and ended up costing me over $100 for alcohol that I never even touched the whole night (I was sick and the DD). 

So what’s the best way of avoiding this type of situation?  I’m thinking that we should institute a “cover charge” next time to make sure that our final bill is covered, even by those who leave early before the final bill arrives. 

Venting session complete.

We’ll Pick You Up

The image above shows the distance from my work to where Mike’s mom works.  Today we leave for Las Vegas and we have a situation.  The truck that Mike usually uses to get to my house is needed this weekend so he is unable to drive it over today.  A solution was figured out and it requires me to pick him up at his mom’s work before we head out of town.  Not a big deal at all, but I think it’s amusing how far away it looks in Google Maps.  I guess it looks far because it is door-to-door, it’s 30 miles.  :)

4th of July – 2008

fireworks

Okay, I realize that this post is a bit behind schedule.  I’ve been very busy with work and Mike.  :)  Anyway, the 4th of July this year was full of good times.  My friend Erin had come up from Sierra Vista for a weekend of Diamondbacks baseball and invited me to go to the game on the 4th.  There were going to be fireworks after the game and I figured, why not!?  Last year I spent the 4th sitting out at Tempe Town Lake from 7pm in 100 degree heat*, let’s just say that this was much better.  For my $10, I got to see a baseball game (we lost) and fireworks in an air conditioned ballpark?  What could be better?!  The photo above is one I took of the fireworks after the game.

baseball

I also attended another game with Erin on Saturday.  Again, the D-Backs lost.  Oh well, it was still fun!  I’ve been to more baseball games this year than I have in the past two years.  I think the thing I like most about going to baseball games is that you don’t really have to watch the game.  Don’t get me wrong, I watch the game but I also spend a fair amount of time socializing.

*For those of you not familiar on how things work in Phoenix, Arizona, it can easily be over 100 degrees for hours after the sun has gone down.

Banana Bread

Today I decided to use the bananas that I bought at the cargo store reefer sale this past week to make banana bread.  I’m not the biggest fan, at least that I can remember, of banana bread.  I figured why not give it another shot and make my own.  I found a recipe on AllRecipes.com that had pretty good ratings  The bread is currently in the oven baking.  One thing I just realized though, I didn’t technically measure the amount of bananas that I put in the batter.  I was supposed to put in 2 3/4 cups and after 3 bananas, I barely had 1 1/3 cups.  I put in 2 more bananas and never remeasured.  So, we’ll see if this comes out super banana flavored or totally gross.

–UPDATE–

Looks pretty good.  I haven’t sliced it yet, but if the outside is any indication, I think we have a nice loaf.

Banana Bread

Spring Training – Milwaukee Brewers

This post is a bit late but whatever.

Two weekends ago, [Mike] and I went to the Milwaukee Brewers game at Maryvale Baseball Park.  The day was actually  kind of hot and the game wasn’t very well attended.  We were surrounded by people from Wisconsin who were all uber excited about watching their team and being able to wear shorts in December.  I remember checking the weather forecast for Milwaukee during the game and I believe the temperature was something like 23 degrees.  Yikes!  We were at about 81degrees by the 3rd inning.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from that day.  Enjoy!


(The Chorizo Sausage Won!)

The (becoming more standard) Weekend Update

I’m writing this from Sonic, on my lunch break, on Monday. I’m taking a super late lunch because I had to deal with some stupid customer service reps out of our Fontana, CA location. Good times, but put me about 2 hours behind for the day. Oh well, hopefully it’s not how this whole week will go. The positive side to a late lunch? I get to go home in just under 3 hours. Score!

So, anyway, this is my Weekend Update post. It’s becoming the norm vs. the exception. I don’t think that’s a bad thing though.This weekend was spent up in Flagstaff where it was snowing and very cold. The cold factor was not helped by the fact that the heater at my dad’s house was not functioning. I believe the temperature got down to 52 degrees in the house (of course, it felt like 40 something). After a cold night’s sleep (made much more comfortable by the presence of Mike) and $600, heat was once again returned to the house.

The main purpose of going up to Flagstaff was to start my dad’s truck (check), talk to the neighbor about his truck (check) and get some mail from my Uncle. Unfortuantely, my Uncle was out hunting this weekend and we were just not able to meet up. I’m sure I know what the letters are that he has and, if so, I can’t do anything with them until my sister returns from her trip to Thailand.

All in all, the weekend was successful. I had a great time showing Mike around and just enjoying his company. The snow made everything so beautiful. Sometimes I miss it… sometimes.

Has It Really Been That Long???

Wow! The Highly Anticipated update to my journal is finally here!!!

Ok, to catch you up on stuff….

This weekend = BUSY! Saturday (ok, Sat wasn’t busy at all, but I have to start somewhere) I got up early to was my car before the heat of the day (yeah right, it was already hot at 8am) and then I took a nap… because I was tried from getting up so early… then I went to see Dodgeball (sucked *more to come below*). Then, I got a call from my friend Jen who is starting Medical School at the U of A in August and has bought a house down in Tucson… so she needed some movers… ugh… Because I’m such a nice friend, I agreed to come over and help her load the truck and unload it down in Tucson. She was packing at the moment and just needed my help for the moving…

Sunday! Today is moving day… and the stuff was supposed to be packed at the apartment… and it wasn’t…. imagine that! Anyway, so I arrived there at 10am, we didn’t leave for Tucson until 3pm… I didn’t get home that night until 9.45pm… almost 12 hours of moving! Ahhh! It was only supposed to be a few hours!! Oh well… it was kinda fun…and it was cool seeing her house. I need one of them… planning on it within the next year… hopefully I’ll have one by this time next year!! Exciting!!

Just an interesting footnote that I thought of real quick… Molson Canadian is cheaper here in The States than in Canada, go figure.

This week… it’s going to be great. Granted, it’s half over, so I kinda know how it’s going to be turning out already, but whatever. So, #1 reason why this week will rock… Spider-Man is out! YEAH!! Totally awesome! Seeing it at the Cine Capri at 6.10 after work… already have my ticket and everything! What sucks is that movies at the Cine Capri cost more than at the other theatres in the same building! Yes, instead of $8 for the movie, it’s $9… I could have gotten it for $7.50 if I had remembered my student ID, damn it!

Other reasons why this week is going to rock… I get to see my friend Kaci from NAU for the first time in almost a year! How is it that two people can live in the same city, yet not make the time to get together more than once a year? How strange… Anyway, that’s going to be great, there is sooo much for us to catch up on and all that stuff. And when I mean we don’t see each other, I mean we don’t even call or email or anything… isn’t that weird? Maybe an IM every once in a while if we’re both on-line at the same time… but that’s rare! Another reason… This weekend is a long weekend! Who doesn’t love holiday weekends? What’s even better is that it’s the 4th of July weekend… probably the second best Holiday in my book. Of course, I know some people don’t feel that way, but that’s ok… I guess (j/k). Let me see.. what else is kick ass about this week… oh yeah, my supervisor is still in Hawaii working (or so we are to believe) and won’t be back until Thursday… that means a bit of slacking off at work is in order… yeah!! So yeah, this week kicks ass and is going to be great!

Another side note… I LOVE MY CAR!!

Now, on to the movies I have recently seen…

My scoring table: (a bit harsh?)

* crap
** ok, but still crap
*** rental worthy, a bit of crap
**** definitely recommend seeing on the big screen, but rental if you just can’t make it – no crap here.
***** if you don’t see this movie in the theatre, God will hate you. – Absolutely no crap here, you should probably even see this one twice.

Love Me If You Dare (Independent) **
Ok, the trailer for this movie made it look like it would actually be good. Oh My God. Ok, first of all, the movie is subtitled (unless you speak French) which means that the movie has to be relatively good to keep your interest. Nope, no interest here… and I actually got lost half way through… the story started out good but then it seemed like the writer lost his way and the story just went to pieces… crazy. I do not recommend seeing this movie at all… unless you can see it for free somehow.

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story ***
Again, a movie that had an awesome trailer, but all the good parts are in the preview, save a few. So yeah, it was funny… but kind of dumb. Ben Stiller’s character reminded me too much of Zoolander (not a bad thing if you’re watching Zoolander). Also, some jokes were only funny if you are under the age of 12… I gave this movie 3 stars just because I think it’s ok to see in your own home, but I don’t believe that you should pay to see it in the theatre.

Saved! (Just saw it today!) ****
Ok, totally not what I expected this movie to be but it’s really good. There are funny parts, some hidden sexual references, etc… all well and good.. some nice poking fun of crazy Christian extremists… stereotyped people you would know if you attended a Christian school (i did, so it was even more funny and I can attest to the fact that it’s scarily accurate at times). But, this movie stuck to it’s title, not in a spiritual sense, but in just a general life sense… the life of a teenage girl, even a bit of what all teenagers go through during those awkward high school years. Anyway, I recommend seeing this movie in the theatre… it’s not as popular as it could have been so it’s exiting the theatres fast… so see it ASAP. Yeah, a great movie… all the elements of a good film… comedy (jokes, pranks, midgets, etc) and drama packaged together perfectly. I won’t lie, I have nothing to hide, some parts of this movie made me a bit watery eyed.. yup, exactly, how crazy is that?? (not so crazy when you can apply some situations to things that have happened to you or ppl you know in your life). Ok, enough of this, just go see it, you won’t be disappointed!

Spider-Man 2 – A REVIEW TO COME TOMORROW (I’m anticipating 5 star rating)

A Side Note – Again – DBacks Lose 11th Straight! Yeah! We Rock! On a happy note, Randy Johnson reached 4000 career strikeouts tonight! Amazing!!!

Oooo! Another side note – Britney Spears. WTF? Why would you marry someone who is having a child with another woman in the next few weeks?? What? What? What? I have no other words… What????

Ok, that’s all for this update, I believe. I can’t think of anything else….

Vegas Baby!

Yeah, what an AWESOME weekend. That town never gets old! It was one of my cheapest trips yet, only spent $120 on gambling, food, and liquor! Pretty good!! Anyway, SUPER tired, it was not a “relaxing” weekend.

Oh, btw, on our way back from Vegas, I got a warning for speeding! Yikes! The officer was cool though, he totally could have given me a ticket, but I guess he figured we weren’t going that fast after all, since most of the traffic was going along at about the same speed… and maybe he realized that we were actaully nice kids?? who knows… but no ticket, i’m happy! Just means I have to be extra careful now, because that warning will show up if I get pulled over again in the next few months… and that basically means an automatic ticket… ugh!!

OK! Gotta run… i’m sooooooo far behind in my tv watching it’s not even FUNNY!