Ah, crap. Literally.

This blog began with me talking about my move in experience with my septic fiasco.  Well, all things come full circle.  You see, it is 2 years 6 months since we bought the home so I figured I should have my tank checked.  Sure enough, it was time.  I uncovered the lids myself, and when the guy showed up he inspected the tank as he pumped it.  Unfortunately, there were major, major problems.  Problems that, upon reviewing my original blog post, make me wonder how the heck this thing passed O&M in 2006.    As I know now, there was supposed to be baffle on the pipe below...and the inlet should be, you know, connected.  What in the world happened?!

I'm going to do my best to see if there is any sort of action that can be taken to have this bill be sent to the septic company who passed this O&M in 2006!

Serves them right: Die, CircuitCity, Die!

Sorry employees, but your company sucked.  And those of you who aided in those actions ought be punished too.

Yes, I am still bitter about the Circuit City incident.  We've never put a penny on our card that we got for that purchase and never will.  

On a lighter note, this evening I ordered an HL67A750 from Vanns.com.  We'll see how that buying experience goes.  The lamp on our HL-T5075s is right around its usable life after only a year.  I checked the lamp hours and was shocked - we watch a lot of TV apparently.  At any rate, the warranty on it will expire in March, so I'll get a new bulb installed before then, then put that TV in the bedroom.  This should save us a few hundred in the long run since the bedroom doesn't see a ton of usage.

CES SiliconDust: HDHomeRun with Cablecard?

I was over at The Green Button and saw a video blog post from CES.  I decided to check it out since there was mention of SiliconDust, and I am considering purchasing an HDHomeRun to augment my Hauppauge 2250 for my HTPC.

The SiliconDust employee mentioned that a CableLabs representitive inquired as to why they weren't certified, and said that it was rather simple to become certified (for a fee, I am sure).  I got a little giddy when I thought of a possibility of a HDHomeRun-type device (network attached tuners) that are CableCard ready.  It could finally set non-OEM users free from the clutches of the likes of Comcast and other cable providers.

Adventures with Vista Media Center

Over the past year or so I've slowly been building up our entertainment equipment - starting with the HLT5075s that we purchased from BestBuy last year.  Since then, I've set up a Home Theater PC with a Blu-Ray drive, and begun using Vista Media Center.  It is very slick.  Most recently, we added a Hauppauge 2250 TV tuner to the machine as well as a Linksys DMA2200.

Overall I have been pretty pleased, although I was very miffed when it came out that Comcast announced that they were killing their analog service!  I bought the 2250 specifically for that feature, and would have just picked up 2 clear QAM tuners for $30 less had I known.

At any rate, we've been rather pleased to date.  Media Center has recorded shows like clockwork and it has been fantastic.  My wife picked it up no problem, so bonus points there.

Tonight, however, was a different story.  One show she had set to record was receiving no video signal, so it didn't record for her.  This was very disappointing as it was a January premiere she had been waiting since mid-November to see.  Luckily I was able to acquire the show quickly from another source so she could view it.  Still, it wasn't pleasant to experience it, especially since the source appeared fine when I viewed the same channel when she reported the problem.

Disturbing and Powerful TV Imagery

To a normal viewer, this might look like an inconspicuous and cute photo. But if you view it in context, this is perhaps one of the most disturbing things I've seen in my life. The image was so powerful I broke down in tears when I first saw it this evening.

Suffice it to say, I am beginning to realize how my outlook on life and thoughts about issues are changing inside, without me even knowing it. I know this is taking place because three years ago I would not have had a second thought about what happened in this photo. Yet tonight I had to speak the words out loud, "It is only a TV show." for the first time in my life.

The image depicted here is a screen capture from the Series Finale of the FX Networks show "The Shield". If you haven't seen the series, I recommend you do so. It is one of the gems in the rough, in my opinion. The series came to a climactic end as one of the main characters will be going to jail. He and his wife have been on the run for days with their innocent three year old son, Jackson. Hopped up on coke, the father gets some pain killers and mixes them in with the water. The wife and son had no idea what he was doing as he called a "Family Meeting". They shared the water and went to sleep, never to awaken. The father ultimately takes his own life.

I find it odd that I'd be so disturbed (and kept up so late) not by the bloody depiction of someone splattering their brains on the wall, but rather the fact that the man conciously went to the store to purchase a toy for his little son to die with. I immediately was bombarded with thoughts of my little boy and the joy in his face as he plays with his toys. Even now it is tough to write this. The thought of something so heinous just does not compute in my mind. Words can't express my love for family, and the joy just being with them gives me. I think one such expression of that love for them is my tears over seeing something like this. Even in fiction, the emotional response that it illicited from me was tremendous - and I'm sure my wife will tell you, outward emotion in the form of tears doesn't happen with me often (ever? At least since we've been married save for maybe 1 time?)

Wii're nuts

Take a look :)

Another Wii Fit Update!

Okay, so the results are below. I've got my 1 month chart for weight and BMI, as well as the historical view starting from May so you can see the overall trend. My weight as of May 20th was 255, and tonight was 229. This is a sustained loss of 26 lbs. Yaaa :-)