Jewelry Viruses

Some woman from Maryland called into the QVC jewelry show and started asking something about why there weren't more clip-on earrings.  (At least I think that's what she was asking about -- I watch QVC while working so I wasn't really paying attention.)  The show's host directs her to the QVC website where she could find a lot of clip-on earrings.  It sounded like the woman just wanted someone to talk to, because then she starts going on about how she has a computer, but with pop-ups and viruses and all that, she hasn't turned it on in 18 months.  Not something the host was expecting.  On a jewelry show.  It was funnier when I was listening to it, I think, because of the way the caller was talking.  Just dragging on about the horrible things on the computer.

 

Although, now that I think about it, the fact that she's even used it and knows what pop-ups and viruses are, still puts her ahead of McCain in terms of technology.

 

"I've seen hot grandmas with ankle bracelets on."  And people wonder why I leave this on for background noise.

Basic Reading Ability

I am really annoyed with the media (aside from Keith Olbermann).

 

All this crap about how Obama is "in a shift" rejecting public financing, or flip-flopping, or changing his mind, or going back on his word, or how he lied before, or blah blah blah...

 

Can you people read?

 

Can you read the part where there were conditions on whether he would take it?

 

Can you read the part where he said he would take it once there was agreement with the other party's nominee?

 

Can you read any of that?

 

Or, rather, can you understand it?

 

It's not going back on a word.  He didn't lie.  So frustrating.

 

And his system is more like real "public" financing than anything people have been doing.

 

But I guess my outrage at the media is good, because as long as this keeps up, I'm going to donate money every day that it makes me pissed off.  Thank goodness for blogs.

Shock

It's been over 6 hours since I first heard, but I still can't believe that Tim Russert has died.

The only news I actually watch is MSNBC (and the Daily Show and the Colbert Report), so I would see him on the screen all the time, especially this election cycle. Really, really shocked and saddened.

Heat Wave

It's just wrong that it's 89 degrees, with a heat index over 90 degrees, at midnight.

Very, very unpleasant.

He Went Green?

I guess tonight's drinking game should have been to drink every time McCain said "change we can believe in," or rather "that's not change we can believe in."

*eyeroll*

All I do is shout at the screen when this man tries to talk. I mean, read. Off his 3 teleprompters (and it's obvious where they are). The man who ripped off the slogan he is enjoying mocking to make his own new slogan, "A Leader We Can Believe In." Can't write your own slogans? And how about doing his speech from New Orleans, the city he couldn't bother caring about during the hurricane while he was having cake with BFF Bush?

Thank goodness I don't have to listen to him whine anymore, because Keith and Chris cut him off to talk about how Barack is the presumptive nominee. They just cut him off completely and without another word about him. Haha. CNN's not showing him either. Only Fox News. The "fair and balanced" network. Sigh. How on earth could Hillary's surrogates go on the air and call them "fair and balanced"? It only helps with their attempt at legitimacy.

And it appears CNN and MSNBC are done with him. Good. No more mocking of change. Real change. Not "McCain" (non)change.

Luggage

I can't believe the airlines are going to start charging for the first bag checked in on a flight.

 

Especially when we're essentially forced to check bags because of (a) the liquid restrictions and (b) the fact that all the carry-on bins are already full.

 

So... now, everyone's going to try to carry on their luggage... and they're going to end up with overflow problems and a lot of gate checking... and they're going to crackdown on bag size and all that other crap or else nothing will fit... and then you're going to end up with people like me who have actually read the contract of carriage and know that they won't reimburse you for certain items and tell you to carry them onboard... and then, we start the circle again.

 

What a mess.

 

Not to mention, that for your $15, you get no guarantee that American Airlines will get your bag to your destination on time.  Intact.  Without anything stolen or missing.  So you're paying for a service that, if you don't get your bag, isn't really a service.  And, according to NY1, the current plan doesn't include any way to get your money back if your bag isn't there.

 

I need to start looking into baggage shipping services.

 

But for right now, I'm just not flying American (not to mention my previous experience during the mass cancellations).  We'll see what happens when all the other carriers pick up the same plan.  Sigh.

DVR

So, the DVR saga.

It worked fine last night (thank goodness). I watched the season finales of Bones (sigh), Gossip Girl (yay) and Desperate Housewives (mixed). Everything on our DVR list was fine.

I turned on the TV this morning and went to the DVR list to unmark some watched programs and mark all the new ones taping tonight (Idol, Hell's Kitchen, Reaper and Shark) to save. My jaw dropped in horror.

The top entry on the DVR list was an episode of Project Runway from February 13th.

February 13?! Seriously?! What?!

How did the DVR go from having multiple (at least 15-20) programs from the past few months to having nothing after February 13? And how could it have all these programs from February when these were deleted ages ago? Connor Chronicles, Cashmere Mafia, Project Runway... these episodes have been gone for months!

I tried a few things to fix it, thinking my eyes were tricking me or that it was just a glitch. Nothing worked. February 13 was the most recent thing. I tried playing those programs and of course, the DVR couldn't find them. Because they were not THERE! They were deleted!

On the way to work, I started recreating the list, thinking about what I had and had not watched. Thinking about how I was relieved that we watched Lost over the weekend. That the 2 big shows on the DVR for which we have a lot to watch - Chuck and Heroes - and the last two Journeyman episodes were still there and from before February, so they still worked. I came up with 2 episodes of Moonlight, the last episode of Ugly Betty and the series finale of New Amsterdam. I'm not sure what else was missing. But I didn't think too hard about it because I was confident we would get it back. After all, my theory was that somehow the list had pulled up some stored directory but the shows were probably still there, but couldn't be accessed.

I called the cable company from work and they said I had to call back when I was back home. I didn't think about it too much during the day at work, but I was able to play one episode of Moonlight in the background while I was working.

I got home, spent over 40 minutes on the phone with the cable people and they are sending a technician at the end of the week. I begged and pleaded that they walk through it with me over the phone because I'm not a technical dummy instead of having to set up an appointment, but no luck. The minor things we tried didn't work. And I'm not sure the guy even understood the problem until the very end. To summarize, deleted programs from months ago there. Recorded shows from recent days not there. It's really bizarre. How do things like that happen? How does the list come up "frozen in time" as of February 13, with things marked to save, etc. that were deleted ages ago? How does this happen?

After I got off the phone with the cable company, I unmarked all the items marked to save that I knew weren't on the DVR because they had been deleted. At that point, I unfortunately had to switch from theory #1 to theory #2. All the programs since February 13 have been deleted. They are not hiding on our (almost full) drive. They are gone. Because I unmark those programs and not one of them is in danger of deletion. And it tapes all 4 hours of today's programs. And not one of them has deleted. That can only mean one thing. There is room on the DVR. Usually every day we unmarked the number of hours taping that night. So it was almost full. There is no way it's almost full now. It must be gone.

I am trying to think of what was on there other than the shows I listed above, but I'm not sure. At least we can get through some Chuck and Heroes maybe. We'll see.

Sigh. Saga.

Vote

I got 2 votes in!

Busy

I have yet to get a vote in during an American Idol finale. Season 2, of course, was the worst, but tonight, I haven't been able to vote either. I don't recall how many finales I bothered to vote in. Usually I don't bother because I know it will just be a busy signal. I have to either like someone enough (see Clay, Cook) or really, really, really dislike one of the contestants (see Fantasia, Taylor).

Of course, I'm voting without watching the show. Which I'm watching now. I love Andrew Lloyd Webber. And I have a ton to say about my troubled, troubled DVR. Sigh.

The Song

[American Idol spoiler ahead]

I heard a rumor about this, but Archuleta really sang Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me. As in, Clay's song. Another reason for me to not vote for him. Not that I was planning to anyway.