Tag Archives: Derek

Televisions

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I might have mentioned this before, but my television was acting up. I called Best Buy, because I had the four year warranty through them, in order to get it fixed. A month and a half went by and I had to miss other activities to wait at home for the repairman three times. Finally though the television was deemed a “junk out”, which is Best Buy speak for “you get your money back and you can get a new TV”. This was sort of the answer that I wanted desperately so I rushed to Best Buy as soon as I got the confirmation number to see what I could do.

Derek had to help me carry the old television, which was a 46″ Toshiba CRT projection television, to the store. Customer Service gave me the gift certificate and I started looking at TV’s. I already knew what I wanted to get. I had done a fair bit of research in the past month on the topic and while I would have liked one of the new LED televisions I certainly do not have the funds for it. I ended up getting a Samsung 46″ LCD.

Derek helped me bring it inside and we set it up. It was not long before I noticed that it just did not really fit in how I had the living room setup. This television is much lower, because it lacks that obnoxious cabinet projection TV’s need for the projection. It looked beautiful and we played around with a few Xbox 360 games just to see them on an LCD screen at 1080p. There are so many details in games that I’ve spent hours and hours in that I’m just now noticing.

I went back the next day with my son and we got a TV stand and I also picked up the VGA connector for the Xbox 360, because naturally I want to play with that. They had a TV stand that was perfect for what I wanted to do. Large enough shelves so that I would only need one table in the living room to hold the Wii, cable box, receiver, and Xbox 360, a red wood look that matches the TV’s red tinge (Samsung calls this “Touch of Color”), and it was on sale. We loaded it up and brought it home. I asked the guy with the cart to hold my glasses for a second, because I wanted to try loading it into the car myself and while it made sense in my head he declined and proceeded with much more effort than it would have taken me to do so.

We spent the next 3 hours constructing the TV stand, unplugging everything, and moving everything to the new stand, and then finally plugging everything in. I think my son learned quite a few things. What an optical and coaxial cable look like, how to plug in component cables, and while helping me construct the TV stand some invaluable stuff there like how to use an Allen wrench. It was a great day. I can’t remember the last time we spent so much time together. We did the whole project and then sat around and watched cartoons. We ate chili and both ended up passing out in the living room.

Rock Band 2

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I had an issue with the strum bar not working on the wireless guitar for Rock Band 2. I was sort of aware of the problem, which is to say that I had seen it before, but dismissed it the one, and only, time I played guitar and noticed it, because I thought it was just a temporary hiccup. Well, it was not temporary, and when Derek and Tim came over to play Rock Band 2 this weekend neither of them brought their guitar and the problem reared its ugly head. I thought they fixed these sorts of problems for Rock Band 2. I had the same problem, basically, with the guitar for the original Rock Band, and I had to return it.

The real reason I am bothering to post about this is because while the situation is resolved it was not handled the way I would have preferred. It would seem that EA who have been very vocal about the enormous losses they have endured having to replace faulty equipment have moved to a 60 day warranty on all peripherals. That’s not really that much time. It is the kind of thing that has earned EA a reputation for being poor at customer service in a community of gamers. That reputation was well earned today.

Enjoying Saturday

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Rick and Melissa came up from Columbus to spend the day with me. They brought a birthday card. The card was a Far Side comic that I think I might have seen before, but more interestingly was Rick’s choice of the word “DING” for my birthday. While I do not know whether or not they exist I am positive that they have to, because this seems to perfect. Simple yet sort of funny thinking about getting older in the same light as leveling.

They picked up their copy of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts that I bought them for Christmas. I know it’s early for that kind of thing, but I just thought it would be pretty cool. We plan on getting online some time and checking out the multiplayer. There is supposed to be racing and some other stuff to try.

Renee came over and we all went to have lunch at Dave’s Cosmic Subs in Hudson. It’s a pretty neat place, but a bit of a drive. Renee remarked that she thought the sub would have been better toasted, and honestly it probably would have been. I don’t even know if they do that there. I just sort of assume they would have asked if I wanted it prepared that way if they did.

Rick and Melissa started their characters on Balnazzar, and so I will have them in my Thursday WoW Update with their new characters names and all about what’s going on with that. They played for a few hours while I cleaned up. We ordered pizza for dinner, and that worked out.

Anthony and Andrew stopped over for a little bit, but they had to go. Derek came over and he had plans for later tonight as well, so he just got some time in with Mirror’s Edge. It’s a very frustrating and enjoyable game. I can’t wait to play it more.

Lawnmower

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Tuesday Derek came over to take a look at the lawnmower, because it stopped working. The problem is that oil is coming out of the front and it won’t start. I had to borrow the neighbors to get the yard done. There were a few things to try.

First he noticed that there was a screw or something missing from the front of the lawn mower, and that’s why the oil was coming out. Trip to Home Depot and they don’t sell the oil screws for lawn mowers, and matter of fact newer models don’t even have that, but they sell a screw that is the right size to go in there.

Came home and it still wouldn’t start. Took off the float, because Derek said that occasionally this part will get stuck, and I was having the symptom of the lawnmower starting and then stopping immediately again. No luck it wasn’t stuck.

Pulled the handle a few more times, and pressed the pump, and played with the air filter. Nothing ended up working, so I’m not sure what else there is to do with it. Sell it as broken. At least I learned something about lawnmowers.

Awesome Night

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I had a pretty awesome night. I had a lot of friends over, and one new person I had never met before. Her name is Kate, I think? I messaged everyone this morning to find out her name, because honestly I forgot, and it turns out nobody else remembers either. So, I’ll just call her Kate for right now, and if I’m wrong I’ll be corrected later.

On to who was here. Melissa and Rick came up from Columbus. They picked up Tim for me. Tim brought Rock Band 2 and his real guitar and amp. Andrew came over with Kate, who is a friend of his from World of Warcraft. Anthony showed up. Jo came with his laptop and assorted gadgets. Derek came with his real guitar and amp as well. Renee was here, left for bowling, and came back.

Rick and Jo tried to fix Patty’s television. I’m glad they tried, I just wish it had been successful. They also played World of Warcraft together. It seems like people pair up at these things. Everyone picks someone to do everything with.

With this many people I had to get creative with the parking. I parked Derek’s car in the driveway of the abandoned house across the street. I ended up putting Anthony’s car in the front yard. I had to pull the car into the back yard, then pull the van up into that spot, move Melissa’s car back, move the van to that spot, and then move my car back to where it was.

We all played Rock Band. That used to be the whole reason we all got together and now it’s just something else to do. I noticed Tim, Anthony, and even myself just jumping on and playing some solo when everyone else was doing something else.

Derek and Tim spent a lot of time watching Youtube and playing guitar. I guess Tim was teaching Derek some stuff. They were watching Youtube video’s of other people playing guitar. They also had some program for learning guitar on there, but I don’t really remember what it was.

Andrew and Kate left, and we all went to Chinese. It was a great idea. We all went through what Chinese sign we are on the place mat. Then we all laughed about how entirely inaccurate it was, which of course is inherently insulting. Anthony’s sign said he was “intelligent” and mine was that I was “articulate”. It’s good fun. We named the chicken on a stick “Bob”, because we don’t believe it was really chicken and Bob is the homeless guy that showed up to my door a few weeks ago and was looking for a handout. I don’t think anyone’s drink got tampered with. We all ate a ton of food and continued the party.

There was a lot of trading and the purchasing of objects. Jo bought an external CD-ROM thing from Rick, I got mobile AIM from Jo, and Andrew finally got his assorted bag of computer parts that he left at a LAN about a month ago back.

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A Full Driveway

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I had quite a few friends over last night. We all came together to play Rock Band 2. Anthony (Codex) brought Andrew (Trewr). I had to pick up Tim, so I got a chance to use the GPS on my phone. Renee was holding it and it worked like a charm. It said “destination arrived” when we were exactly in front of his house. I know that’s what it is supposed to do, but I am always surprised when things work that way. Derek came over after work.

We played Rock Band 2 almost the entire night. There are so many songs to choose from. We ended up trying to do every song that everyone had to do. Everyone has a song some where in that game that they just have to do. Derek has to do a Coheed and Cambria song. Anthony had to do a Disturbed song. I needed to do something from the early 90’s. Jo doesn’t even play and he needed us to do “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran.

It was some fun. We had plenty to eat. We had pizza, beer, and chips. I ordered the pizza using Google 411, which is a free service where you call the number and you put in the zip code where you are and then you can ask for a specific business or you can get suggestions by saying something like “pizza”. It’s pretty neat I think everyone should try it just for fun. I know that there are new home phones that are coming out that actually have a button for the Google 411.

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