Quick Update

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Here are some quick hits from it.

I started a new job. Does anybody like orientations? I had to pace myself by working on a project for an hour or two and then nod my way through some training. If I had to sit through orientations as a full time job, I would shoot myself in the head.

We are two weeks into free-tv and so far, so good. I have watched less TV, read more in books, finished projects I started and found more shows on networks that are interesting. We "upgraded" to a more expensive antennae and we may do so again to ensure good picture quality, but the reduced amount of programming has not been a problem.

I got my kent CD. It caught me off guard, because it went in a completely different direction than their last album, Du och Jag Döden, which was simply phenomenal. But I am adjusting to the new direction and I like it. It hearkens back to their older stuff and Depeche Mode, who was one of their main inspiration.

Amazon Beef

Have you ever eaten at that Brazilian Barbecue Restaurant that everyone is always talking about? Me neither. But my wife recently bought me the latest release from my favorite Swedish band, "kent," from Amazon.com and they have not impressed. The album is an import and she hoped to avoid messing with international shipping and exchange rates by buying it from Amazon. The album was released on October 17 and Amazon initially promised delivery by October 23, then it was pushed back to November 1, then November 6, then November 8, then January 1! All the while Amazon was blaming kent saying that they had pushed back the release date, which was ridiculous because I could read on kent fan sites about the album and how others had received their copies from other vendors. After sending Amazon a bitter email the CD was finally shipped "early" on November 8. It bugs me that Amazon customers who got their Harry Potter books a day late got it for free, but they just push back kent deliveries willy-nilly. Thus my Amazon Beef.

I setup some kent videos on the side bar so you can hear some of their music. More of it is on youtube.com including their latest single Ingenting (Translation: Nothing). Another kent side not; my screen name Isola comes from one of their albums.

Free TV for me?

No this isn't some half cocked scheme to get 150 HD channels for free. It is our attempt to go cold turkey on cable and satellite TV. Our one year bundled rate expired and we remembered that TV, or at least some of it, is free to anyone with some bunny ears for their TV. So we decided to give it a try. So far so good for me. The satellite turned off Saturday morning, so instead of catching bits and pieces of a dozen college football games, I watched bits of three games. My wife wasn't sure at first because on Saturdays and Sundays networks are clogged with football and little programming intended for her viewing. But instead of watching TV we went and worked in the yard, read books, blogged and talked. This morning (Monday) I have opted for a book and a blog with my breakfast instead of Sports Center. I think this is going to work out pretty well. We are going to take back the $10 antennae for a better one so we the picture quality is higher, but I think we are going to make it work.

Dropping satellite is going to save us money, but more importantly it is going to save us time. Time we can spend doing better things. Plus now it only takes us 30 seconds to discover there is nothing on TV, whereas before by the time you checked everything out and learned there was nothing on, it was time for the next shows to start and you wasted more time discovering that there is still nothing on.

One last thing about dropping satellite. I really wanted to get CSTV, Versus and mtn. because together they will have broadcast every BYU football game this year. But in order to get CSTV I would need to order the Sports package ($15) and to get Versus I would have to get the expanded channels ($15) and to get the mtn. I would need to live in a Mountain West Conference (MWC) area and have Comcast. And even if I did fork out the money to get CSTV and Versus I would also get 50 other channels I would probably flip through before deciding that nothing was on.

I will keep you posted on how it is going. For my wife's take, check out the link to Vanessa's Blog.

Let's Get This Show Started with a . . .

Who knows how this will get started? I've never done this sort of thing before, and seeing as this is primarily an outlet for random thoughts that no one is interested in, who knows where it will lead? In addition to being an outlet for random thoughts that my wife doesn't want interrupting her reading, this is also intended to parallel my wife's blog. Her blog will deal with family issues and mine will be an adventure in triviality, but since I have to be serious all day at work, I need something worry free. So it will likely be filled with the sort of worthless preponderances that are a necessary escape for the mind, or at least my mind. Not the sort of stuff that keeps you up at night, but the things I use to box out life's real concerns. In short; the sort of stuff to make my mom proud.

But I am sure that real life issues will creep in occasionally. How can one keep them out when so much of one's life is spent dealing with them? Sure to pop up are thoughts from being a working professional (I use the term loosely) and a devoted husband and father (I hope I'm not using that too loosely). Well lets get things started.