January 2006 Archives

As I mentioned I went to BJ's last night. When I got there I first waked inside expecting to find carts, nope. I then walked back outside to one of their "Cart Corrals." What I found was all the carts chained together. It took me a second to realize there was a big sign up instructing you how to remove cart. Now point one, if you need instructions on how to operate a shopping cart then the solution may be overkill. Anyway, the carts had these locking mechanisms that you had to force a quarter into which would then release it from the next cart and lock the quarter in place. This is fine and dandy if you have a freaking quarter! I of course did not. I luckily found one that was not currently chained to anything.

This method of cart control is one I have never seen before. I can understand the reasoning behind it I guess. The theory seems to be that the incentive of retrieving your quarter will make you return the cart rather than leaving to flail about in the parking lot. However the toll (even temporary) to remove the cart seems very cumbersome. I mean what if someone like I could not find a free cart, would I have to go inside to get change to free a cart? That is not exactly the best way to start a shopping experience. I guess I just usually return the carts sans incentive and don't want to be bothered to find a quarter.

Yesterday I made a trip to BJ's to stock up for the FF banquet I am hosting this weekend. While there I couldn't help put sample the DVDs available. BJ's selection is relatively limited to recent releases, TV shows and a few combo packs. The current releases are within ±$1 of my benchmark pricing of amazon. I got a few of those simply for convenience. The real find however were the combo packs. The ones I found were simply two originally released DVD's in normally packaging tied together side by side in a box. The best part is they were $9.99 for the pair. I bought two of these packs and in both cases I would have been happy to get the DVD's for $9.99 a piece let alone 5. I normally would have bought these as new releases and paid on average about $17-18 for them, so in total I saved $60. I guess it helps when you don't buy DVD's for six months as opposed to my weekly ritual.

Watch the bouncing package below. You will notice it arrived in MD at the reginal distro center, one hop from my house. Then suddenly 4 days later it appeared back in IA? Um what? Guess no popcorn this weekend. BOOO!

AMES, IA, US 01/25/2006 8:59 A.M. DELIVERY
01/25/2006 6:00 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY
01/25/2006 3:30 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

DAVENPORT, IA, US 01/24/2006 9:35 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

LAUREL, MD, US 01/20/2006 2:10 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

COLUMBUS, OH, US 01/20/2006 4:02 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
01/20/2006 12:02 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US 01/19/2006 8:13 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
01/19/2006 4:32 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

DAVENPORT, IA, US 01/19/2006 8:59 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
01/19/2006 7:17 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

DES MOINES, IA, US 01/19/2006 3:29 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN

DES MOINES, IA, US 01/18/2006 11:08 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN

AMES, IA, US 01/18/2006 10:00 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
01/18/2006 8:17 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN

US 01/18/2006 12:54 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

In the HD broadcasts of football they also feature full surround sound Dolby digital. Mostly the surround channels are used for crowd noise. To accomplish this there are boom microphones placed in or near the crowd at various locations and they change based on the view of the field. Today during the playoffs there was one microphone that apparently was near a family with a kid. Many times throughout the game I could clearly hear the kid asking his dad for stuff. The sound treatment in the basement definitely helps with imaging and accurately placing sounds.

I watched the 1/9/06 of Las Vegas and was kind of stunned by this. Basically there was a throw away storyline in the show that merged into a trailer/commercial for the Winter Olympics and Chevy. First in the show several new Chevy vehicles were featured along with some Team USA Olympians. Then as the show progressed some characters were shown to travel to Italy in a seamless transition from show. It then morphed fully into a commercial for the Winter Olympics on NBC and Chevy's sponsorship of Team USA. It was both amazing and shocking.

I am sitting here watching the Seahawks beat the stuffing out of the Panthers in my newly completed basement. Is it 100% done? Probably not, but as with any project especially around the home and involving electronics there are always upgrades and tweaks to do. It is however to the point were it is useable, beautiful and I am happy with it. Watching TV and movies on a wall basically is pretty cool. The screen is 106" 16:9 aspect ratio. It is quite big. Some pictures are available in the last huge HTGallery update. Also all sorts of details of the process from beginning to end in my HT Blog. I couldn't have done it without the help of my parents, especially my dad who spent as many weekends at my house since October as he did at his. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come over and watch a movie now that Hoyt's Cinema is open.

Friday - Carpet
Saturday - Bottom Half of fabric
Sunday - Top Half of fabric
Monday - Chairs, Chair rail, Base Board, Screen, Speakers, Projector

Awesome!
More details - HT Blog

Lots of progress since the drywall was finally finished last week. I have been painting like a madman (speed and quality). I also have been doing lots of little things like putting outlets and switches back together. My parents came down yesterday and are going to help me out. Right now they are waiting for the carpet installers to come today hopefully. Then we can mount fabric and screen this weekend.

Ok so this will be a living entry for the next week or so, hopefully it can be put to rest at that point. Final Update 1/5/06 - 1:00 PM. It is done.

The story begins on Wednesday November 23 which was the day before Thanksgiving. After exhausting various contacts with friends I was unable to find a recommended drywall installer. As a result I decided to try Reliable Remodeler. If filled out there online form to get some contacts. At first they said they needed more info, but later decided in fact they didn't. On Monday the 28th I was given the contact of Storch Construction. On Tuesday the 29th I setup an appointment with Shawn to get a site survey and estimate done.

Throughout the following timeline I will leave out the various odd ball stories and excuses that were given. I will simply stick to the facts of what happened. Feel free to fill in any random excuse and you will be close.

Wednesday 11/30/05 9:30 AM - Shawn comes in with an associate to survey the basement and give me an estimate. The estimate was $3024. I talked with some people at work and my dad and decided to go ahead with the install via Storch.

Thursday 12/01/05 - I gave Shawn the deposit check and signed a contract for the work. The contract stated work would start on 12/12/05 and be completed by 12/16/05. He indicated verbally that his guys might be able to start as early as 12/07/05. By the way the check cleared on 12/05/05.

Sunday 12/04/05 9:30 PM - I recieved a call from Shawn to see if his guys could start the following week would I want them to. I confirmed yes. He also asked about possible delivery of materials and I said I would be available if needed.

Tuesday 12/06/05 8:30 PM- I call Shawn to see if his guys would be starting the next day since I would have to be home when they came. No return call.

Sunday 12/11/05 Noon - I recieved a call from Shawn indicating he would be delivering materials during the day and wanted to check if I would be there. Told him I would be.

Sunday 12/11/05 8 PM - I recieved a call from Shawn indicating he would not be delivering materials that day. He said he would have Home Depot deliver them either Monday or Tuesday and I wouldn't need to be there. No delivery either Monday or Tuesday.

Tuesday 12/13/05 9 PM - I called Shawn to check on delivery of materials. He indicated he would be delivering them 8 AM on Thrusday 12/15/05.

Thusday 12/15/05 8:15 AM - I recieved call from Shawn indicating he would not be delivering materials that day. He said he would come on Friday.

Friday 12/16/05 8:15 AM - Shawn called to say he was running a little late. He and his associate arrived at about 10 AM with materials. I gave him the second third of payment at this point as well. I asked when his guys would be showing. He said Monday or Tuesday and would confirm via call that night and leave message on my machine at home. No call. Check cleared 12/22/05.

Tuesday 12/20/05 2:30 PM - Called Shawn to get an update on when guys would be here. Left message on his voice mail.

Tuesday 12/20/05 7:30 PM - Shawn called and indicated his guys would be there Thrusday at 1 PM.

Thursday 12/22/05 12:30 PM - Shawn called and indicated his guys would not be here Thursday as indicated most likely, hopefully Friday. Asked if I was going to be in town next week, and I said yes I was.

Friday 12/23/05 4:00 PM - Guys did not show and did not recieve call from Shawn. Called him and left message on his voicemail.

Monday 12/26/05 Noon - Got home, no call or message as to status.

Tuesday 12/27/05 1:30 PM - Talked to Shawn, new crew (since last one were flakes) showing up by 8 AM tomorrow.

Wednesday 12/28/05 7:30 AM - The drywall guys actually showed up today at 7:30 AM. They are setting up as I write this. They stayed until about 7 PM.

Friday 12/30/05 8:00 AM - As promised the drywall guys returned today. They arrived about 8 AM. This time only 2 of 3 guys came back. They stayed until about 8 PM.

Monday 1/2/06 9:00 AM - Guys didn't show up so I called Shawn. Guys called me back and asked if they could come tomorrow, I said yes. I figured if they hadn't even left yet they wouldn't get here until 11 AM and I would rather have a full day then half.

Tuesday 1/3/06 8:00 AM - The drywall guys showed up today. They stayed until 7:30 PM and didn't quite finish. They mudded and taped all day. Hopefully they will finish tomorrow.

Wednesday 1/4/06 8:00 AM - The drywall guys returned again today. They only worked from about 8-3 today. They continued mudding and sanding. They are letting the current coat dry and set and will finish in a few hours tomorrow.

Thursday 1/5/06 8:00 AM - The final day. They finished up today about 1 PM. It is done.

Total man hours for drywall install - 105.5

Monday 1/9/06 4:00 PM - Shawn called asked to come take pictures, said sure on my time. Although not very representative since I will have done lots of work since. Also asked about final payment check.

Friday 1/13/06 - Mailed check, no big rush I figured since it took so long for them to do the job.

I will keep adding to the above timeline as this story progresses. Hopefully it will be over soon.

Ok so way back in July of 1997 I got one of the first DVD players ever released the Sony DVP-S7000. First a quick note about this player, I have been and still continue to use this player. It is one of the few (especially considering age) that has worked with any DVD I ever tried to use with it. The only reason I bought a newer one was support for DTS, DVD-Audio and Progressive Scan output; all of these things either didn't exist or weren't finalized at the time the player was released.

When I got this player I lived relatively close to Chicago which was one of the test rollout cities for DVD. At the time I bought all the DVD's available (some would argue I still do). The first two I got were Jumaji and The Fifth Element. Both are good but not great movies. Fifth Element has gone on to become sort of a standard DVD due to its quality. It has since been released at least 2 more times, one being the Superbit edition and the other a ultimate edition with lots of extras. The Superbit was even more of a standard DVD; many use it to make sure colors are looking right in a system. Due to this it has a special place in many people's hearts, including my own.

Now today four studios have announced the first of the Blu-ray titles to be made. Blu-ray is one of two potential new High Definition disc formats and at the moment looks like the leader. On the list amongst others is Fifth Element. It looks like I will be buying it again. It will be interesting to see if it becomes a reference quality disc on Blu-ray just as it did on DVD.

This is straight quotes.

Email from my mom : "As part of your Xmas gifts, you received a terrible towel; do not damage or destroy it."

My reply : "The question then is why was it given to me?"

My dad's reply : "The "logic" behind the gift is too complex to describe by E-mail."

This little exchange explains so much of the dynamic between my grandmother (who gave me the Steelers item), my parent's and me. I just had to share it.