Dt Tivo

I finally have accumulated enough Tivo rewards points from using my Tivo Mastercard to get a new Tivo.  I ordered the 180 hour,  Dual Tuner model on Monday.  This will enable us to do some rocking TV tivo magic.  With two Series 2 Tivo’s we can let them talk to each other and transfer shows between them.  So if the bedroom Tivo snagged Survivor but I want to watch it out on the big screen in the living room I can transfer it over to the living room tivo and vice versa.

The DT Tivo has two built in tuners that allows you to tape two shows simultaneously, a handy feature when two of your favorite shows have overlapping time slots.  In theory you could be taping two shows while watching a third one live.  Yes you certainly are devoid of a life if this situation occurs often but knowing that capability is there is nice.  I can’t wait for it to show up.

 With my upgrade to Vista I got a hot interface and a truck load of new features.  I also got more than a fair share of broken applications.  Most of them are no big deal but one that I rely on pretty heavily is my VPN client that allows me to connect to our office network from home.  This client is not compatible with Vista and probably will not be until they release their next version which is months away.  So I am going to be trying a rig job solution. 

I downloaded Virtual PC 2007 from Microsoft (it’s free by the way)  Virtual PC allows you to make little virtual computers inside your computer that can be used to run multiple operating systems inside one another.  I had messed with it a few years back.  It downloaded and installed very easily.  The only drawback I saw so far is the virtual pc is not exactly speedy.  I took me over an hour to get Windows XP on it.  Tonight I am loading service pack 2 on it and then I will try my VPN client in the virtual PC.  I am crossing my fingers.  It would give me a nice workaround for any Vista-unfriendly apps I used before.

The gift certificate I got Ali for the dance studio is turning out to be one of the best gifts ever.  She is using the gift certificate to go to adult ballet classes once a week.  She loves it.  She bought some ballet dvd’s and a decent arsenal of ballet gear.  Every week when she comes home she is excited to show me what she learned that week.  I am thrilled she is enjoying it that much.  It keeps her happy and keeps my ass off the ballroom dancing floor. 🙂

I got an email from my Dad reporting that he arrived safely back in New Mexico.  He finally got to meet the latest addition to his family, a puppy my step mom picked up shortly after he left on his trip.  They now are a two dog family.  I saw pictures of the puppy, she is very cute and her name is Clara.

Ali took the two cats to the vet yesterday for their checkups.  At this point I would prefer to not even bother but Ali was being the responsible pet owner.  As always it was a mess.  Spook, just like she always does, puked and shit in her cat carrier on the way there.  I picked them up after work and paid the 200 dollar bill.  The health report, Buttons, who only has 4 complete teeth left has severe gingivitis (which she has had for a long time), she also has some bumps on her body (who cares) Spooky is 5 pounds overweight, she had a disgusting, matted, dandruff filled chunk of hair cut out and also has some plaque build up.

The clerk is telling me all this, as she is I am shaking my head like I care when I really don’t.  In the past they gave us this liquid for Button’s gingivitis.  We were supposed to give it to her by mouth.  Well after some ridiculous episodes of trying to force it down her throat where we wore much more than she swallowed we bagged it.  Trying to administer any sort of oral medicine to Spooky is a death wish, she would bite the F out of us. 

So I thanked the clerk and lugged the two cats home.  On the ride back Spooky was making sounds that sounded like they were from an alien and then proceeded to throw up, again, in her cage.  I just really want them to pass on.  After Ali told me of the excrement ordeal from the morning, she finally agreed with me that this was it for the vet trips for the cats, what is the point?  We are prolonging something we in reality want to come quick.   If there was such a thing as a cat retirement home, they would both be in it, and we probably wouldn’t visit much.