So I left work early so I could be home for the satellite installer. It was one of those annoying time window deals where the guy could be there anywhere between 12 and 4. When I got home I saw that the hard drive from that jack ass on ebay had arrived so that gave me something to work on while I waited for the installer to show up. Somewhere around 2:30 I called Directv to verify we were still a go for the install since I hadn’t heard anything yet. They said it was still a go and the installer was not considered late until 4:01. Ok whatever, I knew where this was heading.
So while I waited I worked on getting the 500 gb drive working with my HD Tivo. Doing so meant I had to crack open the Tivo, pull out the existing 160 gb hard drive and temporarily hook it and the 500 gb drive to my system. I didn’t have any extra SATA cables so I had to disconnect my existing drives and boot a special linux cd that has software on it to manipulate tivo hard drives. If I had extra cables I could have completed the process while booted up in Windows using WinMFS.
So I boot the cd, get a prompt, execute a one line command that “marries” the two drives together and that should be it. I take the drives out, install the original back in the Tivo, the 500 gigger in the external enclosure and hook everything back up. I fire up the Tivo and hold my breath. It starts the boot process and I figure I am in the clear. However after a few minutes it became obvious that something was up, it never finished booting. I shut it off and tried again, and again. No dice, it wouldn’t come up.
Well I was pissed. Of course it seemed fitting that the drive I bought from this asshole would be giving me problems. Well I was trying to think of alternative plans of action. I came up with one. I could REPLACE the internal 160 with the 500. So I once again pull the drives apart, slap them in my pc and perform another one line command, this time to copy all of the contents of the old drive to the new drive and expand the available space at the same time. This process takes longer, in my case about an hour. In the meantime I was looking up more info about Tivo HDD upgrades. They recommend that you only use drives that are designed for AV use since they are engineered to run cooler and quieter while being able to withstand the stress of continuous writes to the drive. The drive I was trying to use was not this sort of drive.
Somewhere around 3:20 or so I got a call from the installer, Enrique, telling me he was still finishing up his prior job but he should be done soon. Ok great. Well he didn’t show up until about 4:45. We have been in the middle of our normal summer drought. Wouldn’t you know that when it finally decides to rain a bit, it is just before the satellite installer shows up.
Enrique pulls up in his beat up old Ford full size pick up. He apologizes for being late. He says he would wait around to see if the rain stopped. He asked if maybe if the rain didn’t stop if he could come back tomorrow. I told him that wouldn’t work out well and that the rain would probably stop soon. I told him that I took a half day off of work for this so I would like to get it done now instead of later. Luckily the rain let up.
So I found myself outside hanging out with Enrique while he worked, he sort of seemed like he enjoyed the company. Just like the Comcast installer, I learned a lot about the guy as he worked. He owned a landscaping business that catered to home builders. He was the one that would come in and lay down the sod and plant the trees and stuff for new homes as they were built. He said his business was pretty big, at it’s height he had four full crews working for him. However when the building industry hit a brick wall he got blindsided. He lost everything. He had to lay off all of his workers, lost all of his equipment and the business itself. He said he was owed roughly 300k by various builders but he expected to see none of it since most of these builders are out of business themselves. As a result Enrique had to fall back to working a shitty job as a satellite installer.
He said that when he had his own business he often would only work 4 or 5 days a week and normally wrap up his days by mid-afternoon. As an installer he is routinely working 7 days a week. He gets paid per install and he needs the money badly so he takes whatever jobs he can. It sounded pretty shitty, I felt bad for the guy. After the rain stopped the sun came back out and heated things right back up. Enrique’s shaved head was pouring sweat. I gave him three bottles of water to drink while he was there.
When he started to rip down the old dish he didn’t know that I planned to give the old hardware to a buddy of mine. He wasn’t being very
gentle with the old dish and bent up the shaft and mounting foot a bit before I told him I wanted to keep it. He apologized and told me he had a spare new dish of this sort in his truck that he would give to me, wow, that’s nice.
Setting up the new dish took a little while. It is bigger than the old dish and points up at a steeper angle so it was mounted lower on the wall. As he worked I also worked at cleaning up the residual cable, parts and fasteners from the old install. Enrique took me by surprise when told me he had a spare HD dish in his truck that he would sell me for $50 if I wanted it. He said he normally sells them for $100. I had no use for it so I politely declined but I felt sort of bad since I had already heard about his financial hardships. I knew the guy was just trying to snag an extra few bucks.
As he was getting close to finishing the dish part of the install I got a phone call from a frustrated Ali. Friday was also the day that the Toyota dealer was supposed to fix up the Camry with four new tires, a free alignment and fix the squeaky console. We agreed ahead of time to get the car there early so they could get right to work on it and not be pressed for time. Well it was shortly before 6 and Ali was sitting there, waiting. Even though the car had been there all day long, they somehow were unable to have it ready to go quite yet. Although I appreciate the deal I was getting, their repeated inability to finish work on time left yet more of a bad taste in my mouth. By the time Ali got home the satellite installer was getting close to done.
The HD receiver is huge compared to the old box I had. We hooked it up and fired it up. I was relieved that it appeared to get good signal. It downloaded some updates and after a call to DirecTV by Enrique I was up and running. The picture looked great as I would expect it to. I thanked Enrique for sticking around and getting it installed. He had a long drive back to Cape Coral.
I returned my attention to my Tivo hdd upgrade. The copy from the old drive to the new drive finished and I was excited when the Tivo booted normally with the 500 gb drive installed into it. I was proud that I found a way to make use of the 500 gb drive, although it wasn’t quite as I envisioned it going. I did notice that the Seagate drive was noticeably louder than the Western Digital drive it replaced. I figured that was because it was a “normal” drive. Well later I tried out the Tivo and noticed the picture was stalling and skipping, a sign of hdd issues. Son of a bitch! I rebooted the thing and still had the same issue so I unplug the unit, rip it apart and throw the original drive back into it. I noticed the 500 gig drive was hot, hotter than I would expect it to be and much warmer than the original drive when I pulled it out.
So my plan changed once again. I would use the 500 gig drive as an external unit connected to my server. I would use it to store my large collection of avi’s and music. I threw the drive back into the external enclosure and hooked it to my server. It recognized it and I started a full format on it. Formatting 500 gig takes awhile so I figured I would check back on it in the morning. For the Tivo, I went online to buy.com and got a good deal on a WD drive that is meant for AV use. I will use that to install the internal drive and not worry about an external unit.
So the next morning I check in on the external drive to verify the format finished. It was stuck at 99%, weird. When I refreshed the view it changed the status of the drive to UNREADABLE. I felt the external drive enclosure and again it was VERY hot. Shit! It seems that the asshole seller’s wishes that the drive die on me had come true. Well I angrily disconnected the drive and immediately hopped on my pc to email the guy. I told him the drive had obvious problems. I gave him the choice of me sending the drive back to him and him refunding the money voluntarily or me skipping the formalities and just filing a Paypal dispute against him which would put a ding on his Paypal account, similar to the ding I already placed on his ebay account. He sent me back this eloquent email.
well since I am so stupid I guess send it back. No, the drive left here 100% operational and it’s called karma. you get what you give. Even now when you are asking what to do you insult me by again questioning my integrity. Send the drive back and when i get it you will get your money. I’m sick of this situation and all of ebay. so i want all transactions cleared up as a Paypal claim will hold me to this crap site for a month or so.
I just wanted the money back so I didn’t reply back with anything sarcastic, just that I simply would ship the drive back on Tuesday. I will use the money towards the replacement drive.
I had a long but manageable list for the weekend. Most of it was vehicle related items. I wanted to fix the rear view mirror on the van that fell off, change the oil and the oil plug on the van to hopefully address the leaking problem it has and wash all three vehicles. I tackled the van first. The mirror replacement went just fine and the oil change did as well. It appears that the oil plug does no longer leak which is a big relief.
Washing and vacuuming all of the vehicles took a good chunk of the afternoon to finish but I didn’t mind it. I find it somewhat relaxing. By the time I was done they all looked significantly better, especially the van after I scrubbed off the mildew that was forming on the less sunny side. Saturday night we stayed in and watched National Treasure 2. I had heard some good things about it. The first one was ok, I thought maybe this one was better. It was more of the same for me. The movie is filled with Nicholas Cage making impossible conclusions from various clues in between escaping near death after near death situation without batting an eye. It was ok, nothing great. I’d give it a B or B-.
We had knocked out pretty much the entire list on Saturday which was a good feeling for me, having two relatively care free days is cool. On Saturday I threw the pool heater on to raise the temp from 81 to 88 or 89 so Ali would be brave enough to venture into it. Because of the warm temps outside it only took a few hours for the heater to bring the temp up those 7 or 8 degrees. We actually went in and used the pool all three days of the weekend, it was quite nice. Ali really would like to get solar heating for the pool so we can keep it warm without having to watch the electric meter spinning off it’s base.
Ali and I sometimes get into disagreements about getting stuff done around the house. Normally it is because I don’t quite understand why she claims certain things take so long. Part of that misunderstanding is my ability to knock out a ton of chores in a short period of time just by being diligent in my actions. When Ali went to spinning class on Sunday I put on a demonstration of my skills. She left the house about 8:40 or 8:45 and returned a little after 11. In those couple hours I did the following:
-Hooked up the air compressor in the garage and used it to assist in cleaning all three of the Roombas
– Put away the various AV junk that was scattered around the kitchen counter and put it away
– cleaned all the kitchen counters
– went out to the garden, pulled out the dead corn plants and weeded it
– sprayed down the orchard with pesticide oil
– swept the utility room and kitchen with the shop vac
– stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the washer
– removed the 500 gig drive from it’s enclosure and packed it back up for shipping to the asshole
– empty the dishwasher
– a couple other things I can’t recall
Anyway when I go on these runs of productivity I guess I expect it to be some sort of example of what can be done in a short amount of time. When Ali got back I proudly fired off my list of accomplishments to which she was impressed. I don’t know if she is actually impressed or just says that to appease me. I don’t think she was taking any notes.
Sunday morning I called up my mom and asked her if she wanted to go out to eat with us. We had a $100 gift card to use up. At first mom asked why we wouldn’t want to just go ourselves but I fired back that we have more fun when she is with. She couldn’t say no to that so she agreed to come, we picked her up around 5 so we could avoid any rush. The plan worked out well, the restaurant wasn’t full at all.
We had a nice dinner with mom talking about various things. One of the things that came up was my speaking issue. Mom’s theory is that I have spent so much time communicating non-verbally (email, IM, etc…) that I forgot how to talk. I assured her that that wasn’t it. It was ironic trying to verbalize what my problem with verbalizing is. I told her it is almost like a stutter without the stuttering. Instead I run words together or tail off as I talk all without thinking about it. I explain how often while I am speaking I get hung up while I try to think of word that I should know or as I try to unwind the mental rat nest of words in my head in the middle of trying to spit out a sentence. I told her how frustrating it is for me. It makes me feel like a f’in idiot and as a result the frustration sometimes make the problem even worse. Mom told me how everyone has issues like that from time to time. My problem is it feels like it happens all the time.
We did a good job of spending all of the gift card using alcohol and deserts to pump up the bill which came out to 102 bucks. Ali and I split a big ass piece of chocolate cake. I normally do not care about getting desert at a restaurant and in most cases would prefer not to because I know that the restaurant meal was already jammed full of stuff that is not good for you. However since we had money to spend and I know Ali feels somehow cheated if she doesn’t get desert, we indulged ourselves. I’d be dishonest if I didn’t say it bothered me. We took mom back to her place and hung out for a few minutes. Like her new condo, mom told me that she now really likes the big screen tv. Wow I am two for two in predictions. Now if I could just convince her that she will be much happier and healthier if she gives up smoking.
On Sunday night I watched another old movie classic while I laid in bed, Taxi Driver. It was a very strange movie. I didn’t quite follow why the chain of events went down as they did. It’s over 30 years old so I’m not worried about spoiling the plot here in the hopes that someone can explain to me how they got from point A to point B.
Ok Robert DeNiro is a guy that has a hard time sleeping so he gets a job driving taxi’s at night. DeNiro is a quirky but interesting character. He spots Cybil Sheppard, whom actually was sort of hot in her youth and manages to work up the courage to ask her out. He makes the mistake of taking her to a porn movie for their first real date. Cybil is offended and dumps him. Shortly after this he is giving a ride to a guy that tells DeNiro to park outside of an apartment building. The guy tells DeNiro to look up at the window at the silhouette of the woman. He says that is his wife but that isn’t their place. He said she was screwing some other guy and he was going to kill them, both.
After this odd scene, DeNiro becomes very interested in guns. He buys 3 of them and practices to become proficient in their use. He plans to kill the politician that Cybill Shepard is working for, for some odd reason. I don’t quite understand why. DeNiro also makes an attempt at this time to convince Jodie Foster, who plays a 12 and a half year old prostiute to get out of the sex business.
So DeNiro finally is ready to set his assassination plan in action, he goes to a political rally. As his target is making his way through the crowd, DeNiro reaches into his coat for the gun but a secret service guy spots him before the gun is pulled. DeNiro panics and runs and manages to get away.
Well he still needed to use his gun for something. He goes and finds Jodie Foster’s pimp (Harvey Keitel) and shoots him. Then he goes into the building where she turns tricks and kills two more people, the landlord for the dive and whatever client she was servicing. Oh before he started on this path of madness he gave himself a mohawk. (now Cape Fear makes more sense) During his rampage he gets shot himself a few times. I thought he was going to die but he doesn’t. Instead they fast forward ahead. DeNiro is fine, back driving cabs. Jodie Foster got out of hooking and was back with her parents. DeNiro gives a ride to Cybill Sheppard, drops her off at her house and doesn’t charge her for the fare. Movie over. I don’t know I just didn’t understand the logic of DeNiro going ape shit after only going on one brief date with the woman and how killing a politician she worked for was a logical step to take. Don’t get me wrong, it was an interesting movie, it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. B+
Memorial Day we had no major plans until 4 in the afternoon when we were going to a picnic held by the runners club we belong to. I ran a couple miles on the treadmill in the morning. Afterwards I jumped in the pool to cool off which felt great. The rest of the day leading up to leaving for the picnic I basically screwed off, alternating between playing Mario Kart on the Wii and WoW.
I was a bit bummed the picnic wasn’t until 4. I think it would have been better to have it earlier. Most people have to work on Tuesday so having it later in the day is counter productive in my eyes. As always, I was also concerned about mixing in during a social event. The picnic was held at a private beach club right on the beach on ultra-expensive Gordon Drive, it was a beautiful location. A lot of people turned out, more than I expected. Very shortly after we got there a big problem developed, flies. There were swarms of flies diving at the food and the people. It was really bad. Attempts were made to address the issue by covering food with paper towels or deploying individuals as designated fanners to keep the little bastards away. Even with these efforts, it was pretty much impossible to eat anything that did not have a fly standing on it a few seconds earlier.
I wore one of my many Eagles t-shirts to the event and it proved to be a valuable ice breaker. I talked to a couple guys whom were also fellow Eagles fans, the one guy pretty extensively. We also talked to a woman in the club who ran a marathon in all 50 states and is now working on running a race in every continent. She just got back from running a marathon in China, wow.
Besides the flies, the get together wasn’t bad although I still wished it was held earlier in the day. We headed out after about two and a half hours. I was pretty tired and went back to bed and fell asleep before Ali came back after watching the latest dancing show, So You Think You Can Dance. She set it up to tape on the normal non-HD channel. I told her to record it in HD and I might watch it.
I finally have the 73 inch tv and the stand pushed all the way back into the entertainment nook. It looks great. I’ll have to snap a picture of it in it’s permanent home. The Camry is like a new car since getting the tires replaced. It’s so quiet on the road now, it’s fantastic.
This morning I noticed that I still had Buttons insulin in the fridge. I didn’t throw it out. I picked it up, looked at it and put it back. It made me sad again.
There is a bad brush fire out in our area that so far has torched more than 200 acres and taken several homes with it. It’s not close enough to be a threat to us but we could see and smell the smoke from it. Much of Golden Gate Estates is covered in pine trees. Many of the homes are carved into these heavily wooded lots. These homes are very vulnerable in a fire situation. It was one of the reasons Ali and I were happy when we found an open lot to build our place on. Some of the pictures from the fire are pretty scary. There is a good chance this fire was set/caused by a human being as there have been no storms with associated lightning recently.
However this week I got my Rumble application in the mail and it lit a little fire inside. Charlie, whom I played with the last two times has dropped out of the volleyball scene. Awhile back Randall had mentioned that he would possibly be interested in playing the Rumble sometime. Not expecting much, I shot him an email to see if he had any interest in possibly travelling 1200 miles to play in his first grass tournament. At first it seemed pretty iffy because of some work commitments he has but he got those worked out. We are going to play! 
Well yea those big glasses were a bit weird and whenever I see him I have a hard time forgetting all of his public bathroom sex incidents as well as some of those gloriously horrible pictures of him in recent years. Well he gave a fantastic performance of “Praying for Time”, the best of the night. It was really, REALLY good.