More Tivo coolness, roomba repair, pushed up
I got the Tivo email newsletter yesterday and was reading through it. In it I saw they finally came out with a version of the Tivo desktop software that was compatible with Vista. But the bigger news to me was that it also supported DIVX! What this software does is allow you to pull video from your PC and show it on your Tivo. The support of DIVX now means I can pull my movies that I have had to play through my Xbox and instead stream them to my Tivo, very, very cool. The only gotcha is you need to pay for the “plus” version of the desktop software which is $24.95. I tried it last night and it worked great. This is very exciting, at least for me it is.
Our neighbors have had a Roomba for almost as long as we have but theirs has been tucked away in the garage for months because it started just circling. I told them I would take a look at it. On Tuesday night I took it apart and cleaned it out thoroughly, especially the sensors at the wheels that typically cause this problem. I put it back together and viola, it worked. The only problem they have now is their original battery is toast and will only run the Roomba for a few minutes before dying.
Yesterday at the gym I tried once again to do a chest routine. Once again I was not able to do simple dumbbell chest presses with relatively light weight. So I mulled around looking for any sort of chest exercise I could do. I was able to do the fly machine without significant pain and then did some incline push ups real slow. Then last night at home, just for the hell of it I dropped down and tried some regular push ups on the floor. I was surprised I was able to do them! I felt some slight discomfort in the shoulder but nothing bad. I don’t quite understand how I can do push ups but not a dumbbell press but hey, at least that means I can insert push ups back into my 300 routine tomorrow, making it a FULL 300 once more.
Last night while playing WoW I did something I don’t do very often, listen to music. Awhile back I grabbed the new Linkin Park cd but I think I only listened to it once, quietly in the office. This time I played it loud as it was just me and Nicki in the house. I can honestly say I didn’t dislike a single song.
Linkin Park is one of my favorite bands along with Green Day, and Limp Bizkit. The generally angry tone to most of their songs just suits me. I am very weird about music, I like it, but I can’t tell you very much about it. There are songs that I like a lot but I couldn’t tell you the words to it or the meaning of it. I just like the way it sounds… Ali amazes me with her knowledge of music, especially late 80’s 90’s bands. She can identify song and artists like nothing. She can hear a song on the radio and tell me what band it is. I hardly ever know. Rich also has a very strong ability to do this.
On a rare occasion I will actually listen to the words and on even rarer occasion, I will make a connection with them. However for the most part give me some power chords and angry, pissed off singing and I am into it, no matter what the topic of the song is. When Rich used to come over to our place in Wernersville to lift in the basement with me we always played the same CD that I made, filled with mostly songs that fit that description. At least for me, it definitely helped with motivation.
So I stopped at the garage on the way home last night and let the owner feel my wheels. Before he came out me and another guy waited patiently while Joe was on the phone with a buddy of his bitching about Mariano Rivera blowing another save for the Yankees. In most situations I would find this sort of disregard for a customer annoying but with Joe it is part of his charm. When I go there Joe will talk about various subjects, his custom motorcycle, his bad knees, his tax problems and in this instance the state of the Yankees. I like the guy which I suppose is why I put up with repairs that seem suspect. Anyway, he tells me to pull the van around and he pulled the back wheel that was warmer than the other and inspected the brakes. He said it looked fine, there was no evidence of abnormal rubbing and the brake shoes were fully seated as they should be. So back on the wheel went and I was on my way. More than likely it will be the last time I see good ole Joe, at least with the party van in tow.