J Marcus Daily
MSNBC - Anti-ballistic missile passes test
Missile Defense System, the Star Wars shield, has finally hit the broad side of a barn. Where years ago political pundits made a great stink over funding what many claimed was a bottomless money sucking pit of a defense scam; claiming it would never in a million years work, they now have to eat their words.
Actually most in the media don't ever admit when they are wrong, they move on to something else to be negative about. Obviously, the U.S is still a long way off from having a viable missile defense system but the defense community is making headway. Will it ever work?
I don't know. It can if we continue to fund the project. So far we've shown as a race that as long as we aren't trying to break any scientific laws, we can overcome almost any technological obstacle with ingenuity and perseverance. Oh yeah, and a lot of cold hard, rob from the poor give to contractors, cash.
The debate will rage on about the legal issues involved in building such a platform. The U.S has signed a host of treaties preventing anyone from developing a defensive missile system. In our newly, security conscious mindset American's as a whole are more open to developing the means to protect ourselves from foreign threats.
At the end of the day it makes for an interesting conversation. It brings up a lot of questions. Chiefly on my mind is the question that if we develop a system to stop incoming missiles then who do we share this technology with? If anyone?
The Arrow missile tests were designed around the idea of Israel protecting them from a short range missile. The realistic scenario of Israel’s neighbors attacking with short range missiles is one they take very seriously after Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel in 1991. This missile test is part of an ongoing joint venture between the U.S and Israel.
So if Israel gets to be protected who else does as well? All of our alies. Just our close allies? How about South Korea? What does trade agreements does India have to sign in order to get a hold of a missile shield? They'd do almost anything to be protected against Pakistan and then a war with them would be very one sided for the Indians.
As with all new technology, the creation of which raises interesting questions. Whether or not the system can work seems to be a little more likely. What are we going to do now? We can't wait any longer to have this discussion.
Of course, this is only one man shouting alone in the dark.
Three year old smile
My son is turning three years old. Birthdays are important to kids. As adults we make a kids birthday important. We remember that day distinctly and it’s a celebration of bringing this little life into the world. We want birthdays to be special for kids, when they become adults somehow birthdays fade into the background of our lives.
Tristan turning three is significant for a number of reasons. Foremost on my mind though is that I remember being three years old. Not the day to day occurrences but I have clear memories of things when I was three. The idea that some event in his life is going to be remembered when he is an adult is poignant. Now, his days aren’t just about building one event on top of another, each day being one more thing that helps in his development as a person as it has been for the last three years. Tristan will begin to form memories he’ll have for the rest of his life.
Raising a child makes you think of these kinds of things. There are topics that would never have entered my mind before he came into our life. So much can change by bringing a baby into the world. I’m sitting here thinking about what it’s like to be a three year old, remembering the little flashes of memory from my own childhood at that age, and it puts a smile on my face.
There are people who can’t understand why anyone would want to have a kid. Even more who can’t understand why I would choose to be a stay at home father. Take on the woman’s role and all that hubbub. Those people, will never understand the way it feels to lay in bed at night and smile just from some cute little thing your son did during the day. Those people can’t imagine children as anything but screaming, selfish, impatient, needy beings who have to have their dirty asses changed and the sticky mess washed off their faces every second of every day for the rest of their lives.
There are days. Yes, there are days when I’m right there with them. In the end though, my life is more complete with my son being a part of it than if I’d never had him at all. Sure I’d get to go have a round of golf whenever I like, or sleep-in in the morning once and a while, but I’d never get to have this smile on my face. This smile that comes because 3 years ago, my wife gave birth to a 9 lb. baby boy who loves every minute of his life.
National Do Not Call Registry
Telemarketers. We all hate them. I could rant and rave about being bothered during dinner or while watching TV, all for the sake of being sold some whatchamacallit. Undoubtedly so could you. There are devices for blocking and zapping unwanted phone calls, most everyone has some form of caller id, and still the calls seem to get through. You can tell them to remove you from their list. There are even laws with stiff penalties for those who continue to call, if you’ve got the time and patience to log who’s been calling and follow it up with a lawsuit.
Today, I’ve instituted a sure fire way to get back at the solicitors. It won’t stop them from calling but it will surely make them think twice about calling back. In about ten minutes I collected everything I needed and prepared for an evening of entertainment.
At around 5:40 the first call came in from a company wanting to know about my insurance situation. Snapping up my clipboard from beside the phone I set to work making the solicitor work for his no. I took the lead in the conversation by asking questions.
Who am I speaking to?
What company do you represent?
Where is the company headquarters located?
Where is your call center located?
What is the phone number from where you are calling?
All questions solicitors are required to answer by law.
When he asked why I was curious I explained I was taking a survey, and since he called to ask me some questions I’m sure he’d be willing to answer some in turn. He tried to push past by questions and work in his product, but I shut him down.
“How long have you worked for ---?” He wasn’t sure why I needed to know that. “Well, if your trying to sell me something I’d like to have an idea of how long you’ve worked for the company.” And so on, and so forth. This went on, for about five or six minutes before he said goodnight after I asked him to remove me from his list. The next call didn’t even make it past the required questions before hanging up.
This may seem like a lot of work and effort on my part. Only took a few minutes to write up the list of questions and put them on a clipboard. Yes, it does take a little while to talk to these people but I have to do that anyways when I answer the phone. I might as well have a little bit of fun while I’m at it.
And at the end of the day I’ll have documentation I could use in court if I ever feel the need. It feels good to have a little power over my phone again and now I’m not dreading answering the phone at 6:20pm. It might just be another respondent for my questionnaire.
Contact Lenses at 1-800 CONTACTS World's Largest Contact Lens Store
Yesterday I went to see about getting contacts. For years I’ve worn glasses. Until recently I never even gave getting contacts a second thought. After breaking my one pair of glasses while camping last week I thought maybe it would be nice to have the option.
The whole affair of going through the exam went simply enough. Millions of people wear contacts without any problems. Materials have come a long way since those hard contacts that used to get lost slipping to under the eye. However, I have to admit I had trepidations about putting something on my eyeball. In this modern world it may sound a bit silly, but there you are. The thought of touching my eyeball makes me twitch, a built in physical reaction, but one we are supposed to get over.
While the assistant was sticking the first contact in my eye I began to get a little hot. Before she was finished I was burning up as my body was deciding whether or not to pass out. I know what this feels like because I’ve done it before. Not because of contacts mind you. Usually it is needles or getting married, but that’s another story.
I was very surprised to be having this reaction. It was more than a bit embarrassing and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t overcome the problem. I know, big wuss. Turns out putting contacts in my eyes aren’t the problem. I’ve been practicing and while I’m not very skilled at getting them in I haven’t had any fainting episodes. Having another person sticking their finger in my eye seems to be the problem.
Minor difference. Long story short, it took getting contacts to learn I don’t like getting poked in the eye by a stranger.
Ranting and Raving
Last night we hired a babysitter and headed out to the movies. This is a big event for my wife and I. We’ve never hired anyone to watch our child before and we rarely get to see a movie together. She was going to kill me if I went to see another movie with my friends, and without her. Lucky for me, her pick was The Bourne Supremacy. Hurray, no chick flick for me.
After paying for the babysitter, movie tickets, a soda and popcorn I’d already forked over two Jackson’s. We found seats in the fourth row and watched ten minutes of ads, and movie previews that should’ve been coming to cable not the big screen. A row in front of us, over to the right from where we were sitting was six kids ranging in age from 9-12 years old. A parental figure of some sort was sitting behind them shelling out money for them to head to the concessions stand.
Two of the older girls seemed to be having ADD fits periodically through the movie. Now, I don’t exactly know what these kids were doing in this movie. The Bourne Supremacy doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of movie 11 year old girls would be into but what do I know about the mind of a prepubescent girl? The parental figure didn’t say anything to them once. Even as they were squirming in their seats, giggling, and dancing every time they went to the bathroom together. Luckily, they were off to the right of my peripheral vision so I could almost tune them out.
I have a nearly three year old son, Tristan. I’m sure he can be a pain out in public. Frankly, I expect others to put up with it as much as I deem reasonable. I don’t let him make noise in place where it is supposed to be quiet. I try to have him behave in public or else we generally leave. But he’s three and how much can you expect a three year old to behave? We don’t take him to movies because we know he can’t behave well enough to be in a theater, in less it’s a kids film.
Come on though. Eleven year’s old and they still can’t contain themselves in public. Sure, have fun, but do it somewhere else, where you aren’t disturbing other people. I just don’t get it. They shouldn’t have to be told to behave, or at least act their age. I can’t help but think it has something to do with their parents.
What do I know? I’ve got a three year old. I’ll tell you this though; if he acts like them when he’s eleven he’ll never be allowed out in public. Maybe that sounds harsh but give me a break, I’m not going to let my kid get away with murder in public. He’s going to at least act his age and for now, we’re living up to that expectation nicely.
http://xgamerz.blogspot.com/
Tomorrow I begin publication of a new column for Gamerz, J Marcus Gamz. Highlighting the best, worst, and often times mediocre video game releases on consoles and the PC. From in-depth features and news to reviews of which games to run away from and which to buy J Marcus Gamz will have it all. Or at least that is the goal.
Personally I play a little bit of everything. I have a wide variety of games I like to play and am very critical of games that don’t live up to their promises or their price tag. However, since there are different types of gamerz out there, there will be a host of different Gamerz contributing to this column and those found on Technovations, the online magazine we are beginning September 1st, 2004. I’m very excited about this new addition to the J Marcus Ross list of columns.
This week we will be stretching our legs with reviews and a feature article on where to find the best information for online games. MMORPG’s have helped to propel online gaming to new heights. Over the last five years games like Ultima Online and Everquest have shown the gaming industry that there is serious interest and money to be made in online gaming. Now, everyone seems to be getting into the act. By years end, there is expected to be at least 20 different full featured online games running 24/7 for players to enjoy.
I’m very excited about the world of gaming right now. You should be too. Follow us over to J Marcus Gamz and you’ll get as much gaming as we can give you in writing. Only your Xbox or Playstation can give more.
As a reviewer, I have the chance to look and play with a lot of different products. Laptops are one of the few categories I don’t get a chance to play with as much as I would like. It’s tough to be sure just how good a particular model is until you’ve had a chance to seriously use it for at least a couple of weeks. For an upcoming article on ultra-portables I decided to the four best ultra-portables through a serious usability test.
On Saturday, I scoured the countryside for the best laptop I could find that met my criteria. It had to be very light, have good battery life, a high quality screen for watching DVD’s, look good, and be comfortable to use for long periods. After much consideration and a lot of research, I took home the Sony PCG-TR3A Vaio laptop. It’s a bit pricy compared to the competition, only Apple makes more expensive laptops in the ultra-portable category.
I’ve only had a day to play with it and so far I’m fairly impressed. Without thinking about price this is a very nice computer. It’s a bit difficult getting used to the fact it only has a 1 Ghrz processor, when there are so many desktop replacement laptops with 3.0 Ghrz and more for considerably less. It has a lot of features and I can’t get passed how comfortable it is to write on. I’ve spent more than four hours straight writing and I haven’t gotten tired of it. The extremely sensitive, low threshold keys took a couple of minutes to get accustomed to, but now that I am, it’s lightning fast.
For the moment, I’m happy with the TR3A and that is saying a lot for a reviewer. Most of the time, I touch something and immediately find a whole host of things I hate. Which was one of the reasons I brought the Sony home with me even if the salespeople tried to persuade me to buy something different. On this trip to Fry’s they were on a Toshiba high and we steering everyone to those laptops.
In the coming weeks there will be a review on the Vaio TR3A for those of you interested in how this ultra-portable laptop survives my life.
Tomorrow I head out to buy a new laptop. The one I have is a few years old and has been misbehaving. It has to go to the shop. So, tomorrow I will visit every store I know and give a few of my favorites a test spin. By the end of the day I’ll have a new laptop, one that hopefully won’t reboot or do memory dumps every five minutes.
IBM ThinkPad R50
Toshiba Satellite A45-S250
eMachines M6807
Dell Latitude D505
Sony VAIO TR1A (PCG-TR1A)
Toshiba Portégé M205-S809 Tablet PC
These are just a few of my favorite picks of the moment. By the end of the day I will make a decision. I’m looking for a good all around ultraportable laptop. Its first job is to sit in my lap and let me write anywhere. It needs to be light and durable. The durable is important because I have a two year old son. When I take it with my on trips I like to watch movies so the screen needs to be excellent in quality. Connecting to the Internet through my wireless network should be simple and hassle free.
Laptops are one of the most difficult tech purchases to make. Their compact design makes upgrading very difficult and costly. Simpler to buy a new one most of the time than to try and have it upgraded. Also because of these factors laptops are very pricey. Especially the cooler ones. While prices have continued to fall, it is still a large investment. Speeds on laptops in the same price ranges as their desktop counterparts are much lower. It’s difficult to come up with a reasonable idea of what type of processor you’ll need a year from now. The day it is bought it is already slower than most of the desktops on the market, so a year for a laptop is like 10 years to a TV.
Technovations will release a buying guide for laptops in its first monthly issue. Too bad. I could use it right now.
Classic entertainment: the Zoo
In this fast-paced world and the ever-increasing entertainment options for kids and adults alike everyday places are suffering-places like zoos, museums, and libraries. Even a 21st century techie like me can appreciate the simple enjoyment of going to the zoo. As a family, we’ve had a zoo membership for the last couple of years and we love it.
It makes the perfect place to play for a two year old. We get up early before the crowds arrive so we pretty much have the full run of the place. Only a handful of others are there in the early mornings, even in the height of the summer. This is my son’s time to pick and choose what we see and where we go. Elephants and Sea Lions every time. Everything else is subject to his mood. Some days he just likes to run down the paths while I try to keep up with him.
We only stay for an hour or so. Since we go all of the time, we don’t have any pressure of having to see anything special. He gets a great place to explore and at the same time expose him to a little learning; and always a favorite, animals.
Nowadays even going to the mall to look around seems to cost money. There are very few things you can do with a child that doesn’t. Going to the zoo though is one of the best deals you can get. The cost of the membership easily pays for itself. If the big smile I get when I mention the zoo is any indicator, he wholeheartedly agrees.
http://www.worldpokertour.com/
America has Poker mania. Everyone’s playing it, or at least it seems that way. With the success of the
Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour and
Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown more and more American’s are heating up for Texas Hold’em. A year ago if you asked what hands beat a straight at an office water cooler; you’d get a lot of blank stares. Now, it’s a different story.
With reality television booming, Poker is just one more in a long list of things viewers are willing to watch. If you asked a studio exec if watching people play cards could be a successful show they’d laugh you out the door. Now, with the advent of pigeon hole cameras allowing audiences to see the players hole cards you get a whole new spectacle. Armchair quarterbacking is the name of the game while watching
Texas Hold’em. Viewers finally get a chance to question how they would play a hand right along with their favorite poker champs.
The miniature cameras aren’t the only thing propelling the interest in these shows. Online poker rooms have been booming business for the last couple of years. An
average joe can get online and be playing in a tournament for real money from the comforts of their own home. With more players come more interest and that has helped propel this rather strange fascination with cards on TV.
Even during our last camping trip my brother and I picked up some chips at a local store and started to learn Texas Hold’em. It’s a tough game to play with only two or three players but we wanted to get an idea how it goes before starting a weekly penny ante game.
Of course if watching people playing cards is good television now, the question begs asking. What will we be watching in a few years? In the future will we be watching people pushing a little
white ball around with a small club, or rolling a
ball down a lane and knocking down pins? Just wait, some day cribbage and backgammon tournaments will be Must See TV.
iPodlounge All Things iPod
iPod users are fanatical. This is nothing new for Apple; they are used to drawing a near cult response from their users. Unlike most things in the world of PC’s and Microsoft, the Apple community is very helpful and knowledgeable. Message boards are chalk full of people willing to help one another solve even the most mundane of issues. A newbie doesn’t have to fear being heckled or steered in the wrong direction.
For those of us PC users this is a very different culture. So, as PC users are adopting the iPod it’s important to remember the differences in using a PC based product and an Apple product. The biggest being the online community and the plethora of websites devoted to the iPod.
While there are a number of noteworthy websites and forums iPodlounge.com is by far the best for new users. Here you will find a wide range of topics and helpful articles on everything iPod. If there is a third party application for the iPod this is where you will find it. For the newest in accessories and new gear for your iPod, there is an extensive listing of products as well as reviews.
The forums are the best place for newbies to go. Almost every topic in the iPod universe that one can imagine can be found here. If you have a question go ahead and post, you’ll probably receive an answer by morning. In addition, these are not the kind of response you are probably accustomed to receiving: clear, concise, intelligent responses to your questions without the standard flaming behavior so prevalent on many PC tech website forums. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe everyone who owns an iPod or an Apple product are Saints. Rather, it has been my experience that everyone I’ve met on the iPodlounge forums to be nice. I’m sure there is at least one jerk out there.
This week I’m introducing a new column to the world of J Marcus. This newest installment is devoted to all things travel. On
J Marcus Travel, I will share with you the best in traveling this great country of ours: from local trips in the Pacific Northwest to Hot Spots like Las Vegas and Hawaii. Along the way we’ll explore some of the best in online travel deals and advice on how to get the most out of your vacation experience as well as your vacation dollar.
Sure there are lots of travel sites out there. Most read like travel brochures trying to sell you on a particular destination. Others seem to slam everything and everyone with mean spirited reviews. We’ll do a little of everything, do it better and do it a little different. I’m not paid by anyone in the travel industry. I don’t get kickbacks or free travel because I write about a particular place. I’m also not going to rant and rave about things like a typical blog. What I bring to most of my columns is a mix of the professional in a slightly relaxed and informal manner.
As a professional writer I don’t get the chance to write about what I want all of the time. Mostly, I write with whatever tone and style a particular publication prefers. On J Marcus Travel, I have the opportunity to write as I like, providing good information as if I were sitting next to you having a conversation. Stop by often because you’ll never know what you’ll find next on
J Marcus Travel.
For those of you with suggestions feel free to send them to
jmarcusross@jmarcusross.com. I typically have travel dates lined up for three months in advance so if you have somewhere you’d like to me to review or research get those ideas in as soon as possible.
Oh, and you’ll probably have to put up with occasional family picture to all these wonderful places we go. Sorry, but I have to have somewhere to show off the family photos. And the family is tired of seeing them. So, there you are.
http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_227.php
Greetings everyone. Starting tomorrow all columns will be publishing regularly. For the last five days we’ve been off as a family enjoying the great outdoors. We’ve been doing a great deal more camping this year but this will probably turn out to be the longest of the camping trips for the year.
A group of ten of us, friends and family all, camped at Beverly Beach State Park. This forest covered campground turned out to be a good jumping off point for trips into Newport, Depoe Bay, and Lincoln City. The kids had a good time and we all got a little sand in our hairy places.
This week I’ll introduce a new column devoted to one of my favorite activities,
Travel. Here I will share with you the best that traveling this great country of ours can afford: from local trips in the Pacific Northwest to Hot Spots like Las Vegas and Hawaii. Along the way we’ll explore some of the best in online travel deals and advice on how to get the most out of your vacation experience as well as your vacation dollar.
Meanwhile, in the world of
DVD and Movies there will be reviews on Paycheck, Big Fish and Welcome to Mooseport for DVD. For current or recently released theater movies we’ll tackle Stepford Wives and Shrek 2.
Right here on the Daily Blog it will continue to be a hodgepodge of what I have on my mind and wish to share with the world. Look for an exploration into the Texas Hold’em phenomena, a roundup of the best third party applications for Ultima Online and the best place to check out gear for your Ipod.
Mark your calendars because starting July 26th,
J Marcus Gamz will begin publication. This is where you can come for your daily fix of all things game related. From console to PC and everything else we can think up, you can load up on all the news and reviews dedicated for the Gamer in us all.
(A little cheesy I know. Still, I have to try and pretend to be professional once and while.)
SCIFI.COM | 5ive Days to Midnight
5 days to Midnight
Sci-Fi channel offered this June mini-series with an apologetic tone of regret. They have nothing to be embarrassed about. This series is worth watching especially in this lackluster summer television season. This D.O.A style mystery is mixed with just the right amount of sci-fi to make it different enough to watch. Oddly enough I found myself interested even though I knew where the story was headed. There are twists and turns added along the way with an off-beat directing style that gives it just that something special
It isn’t perfect by any means. This isn’t hard core science fiction or mystery fair. If you dig too far into the story you’ll find mistakes enough to break the plausible realism they work hard to develop. Simply enough 5 days to Midnight is enjoyable to watch. During this time of the year when there is little of any value on TV it is nice to watch something worth watching.
Timothy Hutton does a good job dancing on the head of a pin as the brilliant physicist J.T. Neumeyer. With a less than perfect life, the rest of the people in his life are supportive of his wife’s death and his raising his daughter on his own. On the surface everything looks manageable until a case shows up at his wife’s grave on the anniversary of her death. It has detailed information on his future murder set to happen in five days. This sparks an unraveling of his world as he learns this isn’t a hoax. Everyone he knows and cares about become suspects to a murder that hasn’t even happened. His own.
The layers are peeled back on each of his friends revealing less than perfect people with secrets of their own. Each with a reason to kill JT. Randy Quaid plays the police detective who will be assigned to the case in this future that is fast approaching. He is enjoyable to watch in this part, even if he isn’t given anything spectacular to do for most of his screen time.
Watch it. It is worth your time. Especially if your looking for something to watch this summer.
I for one am doing a lot of camping and watching Netflix.
F-Secure : Security Information Center
In the computer world viruses are running rampant. Security experts venture as far as to say viruses are going virtually unchecked. Most PC users are acutely aware of viruses from the near daily coverage in the news. Yet, according to the latest security figures less than 20% users use any form of protection whatsoever.
There are number of commercial programs available to help combat with the threat of viruses. Consumers can fork out between $11-150 for a standard virus protection program. There are however a number of free services available.
First if you’re unsure about how clean your system is go to bit defender and run their detection program. This will let you know if you’ve already been infected or not.
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php
It is important for even those who have clean systems to run an up-to-date anti-virus protection program. The key is of course up-to-date. New viruses are being created everyday, old ones mutate and attack in new ways; some even hide on your system for months or even years before becoming active. Only by staying up on the latest developments can you hope to keep your PC healthy.
For free, up-to-date programs that offer some support try:
http://www.free-av.com/
http://www.avast.com/eng/products/desktop_protection/home_edition/free_avast_4_home_ed.html
For catching e-mail viruses before they spread to your system:
http://www.vcatch.com/download.html
Now, the big three Symantec, Norton, and McAfee have found great commercial success with their products, but there are drawback to using these. These programs cause almost more system instability than the viruses they are protecting you from. Not to mention the best way they can protect your system is by locking it up and making it difficult for new programs to be installed. Personally, I’d stay away from these three unless you only use your computer for the internet and don’t plan on adding many programs to your system. If you’re a gamer, stay away from these three. Or at least, don’t run the full suite of products they offer.
Symantec
Norton
http://www.guardyourpc.com/index.cgi?src=WC-00087aaa:33335:
McAfee
The area of virus protection is an ever changing landscape. The only way to stay completely safe is to unplug your computer from the outside world. Short of doing that all I can say is do your homework and stay on top of the newest developments and programs. As with all things in the world of computers there are viable free alternatives to buying the standard commercial programs. There are good products out there and bad. You just have to try them to see what works the best for your particular system.
Good luck, and keep on fighting the good fight.
Visiting Grandparents
Tristan has been missing Grandma and Grandpa this summer. My parents have been gone for most of the summer and so Tristan hasn’t been able to spend much time with them. He loves there house. Grandma and Grandpa’s house has all kinds of trouble to get into. Old car parts, tractors, backyard lawn ornaments, loads of tools and knickknacks galore. He doesn’t see the mess, or the eclectic gatherings of a lifetime, or the gangrene guillotine. All he sees is an afternoon of fun.
Running into the bushes where he can play hide and seek. Jumping up on an old blue tractor that reminds him of Travis on Bob the Builder, he screams in delight. He helps Grandma as she waters her roses. Minutes later he rides around the yard on the lawn mower with Grandpa until he starts his circuit all over again. Each time he adds a new more interesting discovery and shrieks in excitement.
This weekend they returned for a few days and wanted to spend some time with him. Today when I went to pick him up I almost couldn’t get him away without a fight. He couldn’t believe he had to go home with his dad. It just wasn’t fair.
After I got him in the car he fell asleep only three blocks away. He was exhausted and tired. He’d played hard and had a great time. His hands were covered in grease, his shirt stained, but he slept with a smile.
Andrea and I made use of our time away from him. We spent some good time together doing all the things you can’t do with a nearly three year old boy in the house. By the time the weekend was over we’d actually seen two movies in the theater in peace and quiet. It was a nice break.
It was a good break for both him and us. Now we prepare for a family trip to the beach for camping.
E! Online News - Good and Bad Buzz on Fall TV
Television. Constantly I hear people talk about how there isn’t anything to watch on TV. I’d actually debate the issue during the regular viewing season. There are a number of good shows and a small handful of passable shows in the fall and spring seasons.
We won’t even get into the winter hiatus issue right now. Summer on the other hand is a complete waste of the airwaves. Might as well shut the whole network down and give up because there really is nothing to watch.
I’m told it’s because more people are out doing things in the summer. Between barbeques, camping trips and summer vacations to Great Aunt Martha’s house there aren’t as many viewers. As one of those who own a Personal Video Recorder I don’t much care when a show is on so long as there is something to record and watch when I am ready to cook my potato on the couch.
What I don’t understand is how all the television seasons work out. It isn’t like there are new programs coming out each season, no typically only in the fall and a few losers in the summer. Look at it this way, with a year consisting of 52 weeks a standard television shows year is only 26-28 episodes. What happened to the rest of the year?
No TV-that is what happened. Sure, the cast and crew of West Wing need a break for part of the year. Why not have another show take its place for the other half of the year? It wouldn’t be that difficult would it?
Besides if the networks did this maybe people would watch a little more TV in the summer and take less gas guzzling SUV road trips. Better TV less staying out late playing in the yard and barbequing. More time snacking on the couch eating advertiser’s products has to mean more revenue for the company. More revenue for corporate America means stocks rise and more people have extra money to buy more advertisers’ products.
So, in conclusion have a summer television lineup worth watching and America will be a better place. Slightly more overweight but ultimately we’d have a better world.
Mail-In Rebates
Viva! Revolution! Grab your pitch forks. Stoke the bonfire. Take that ole’ guillotine out of the basement and set it up in the town square. The mob must unite to topple this marketing nightmare known as mail in rebates. Burn ‘em. Burn ‘em to dust. We can’t allow this scam to continue any longer.
Consumers have swallowed the mail in rebate scam hook, line and sinker. Instead of looking for the best sales price consumers are actually counting rebates into their buying decisions. Never mind that 80% of all rebates go unfilled. Or that those that do have to wait six to eight weeks to get their money back. Rebates are not good for the consumer. They allow companies to reap the benefits of our cold hard cash until they deem all the proper paperwork has been filled out.
What happened to the good old sale?
Consumers seem content to fork over $399 today only to wait on the promise of their money returned. I think I’d rather pay less at the checkout counter. Wouldn’t you? Perhaps if we all banned together and stopped buying products based on mail in rebates then they’d get the idea. If a product is going to be cheaper make it cost less today, not jump through fiery hoops to get the money.
Or at the very least offer the rebates online so we can fill out the forms quickly and easily. No, I like the no mail in rebate better. On with the revolution.
Spider-Man 2
The hype over Spiderman 2 has reached blockbuster proportions. Fueled by the standard media frenzy and larger than life advertising campaign this one is also being well received by fans and
critics alike. (Not a good sign if you ask me)
The first one was fairly good for a comic book movie and so I went to see it tonight with a friend of mine. The 10:15pm showing had a full auditorium but not packed. Anyone arriving late could find a seat if they wanted and not be relegated to the first 4 rows.
It was nice to get out. It’s been a good week with Tristan but it still nice to get out and have a little adult contact. Andrea, my wife, was out of town all this week so it’s just been the two of us. We have fun together. It’s still nice to get out.
This week Tristan was fun to be around. He’s starting to come out of the terrible twos. He’s been more willing to do things again without it turning into world war III. This week he’s been having a blast with the
Robosapien. We call it Robo. He doesn’t touch it. Instead he gets the remote and asks me to turn him on. Then he pushes as many of the buttons as he can figure out. When he’s had enough then he hands it over to me to make him dance and more of the complicated moves. If my review was going to be based from the perspective of a three year old then it would get high marks.
Oh, if you thought this was going to be about Spiderman 2, nope. For my review of the film you’ll have to wait. I’ll post it to the
DVD and Movies blog next week. No, this was just about me getting out of the house on a Friday night.
All in all it’s been a good week. Now, we have Andrea home for a 3 day weekend. Combined with the big party we are having for the
Fourth, I’m actually looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow won’t be the most exciting. There is a lot of work to be done before our guest arrive on Sunday. We’ll spend part of it shopping, and the other half doing some maintenance around the house and
yard. Andrea loves to have people over so the extra work is worth it.
