Good Weekend, on the Whole
Dec. 12th, 2005 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jcfialaNo Hot Water; Replacing DVD; Gift Shopping; Computer Upgrade; Second Life
Last week or so ago, our DVD player died. We think it happened when Tammy plugged a heater into the power strip for the entertainment center (which is near her computer) and blew the circuit - but we're not certain. It sounds good, at least. It would turn on, but it just gave out incomprehensible diagnostic information (H02) and didn't do much else. Checking the manual suggested that H02 was DVDplayer for 'Call for help'. We did, and found out there was a service center nearby, but upon arrival my wife was told that it would cost $125 for them to look at it. We turned that down.
As it happens, this is just about the best time of year for a DVD player to be replaced - after starting at the godawfullest Soundtrack store we'd ever been in, we ended up at Best Buy, where we ended up with a $60 Phillips DVD player which promises to play dang near any kind of DVD we can think of. Oh, and if we get around to it, we can send in some form to get a $10 best buy gift card too. We also picked up a new power strip while we were at it.
Unfortunately, another thing that seems to be broken is the hot water heater. While she was delving in the basement for Christmas supplies, Tammy found water leaking from the hot water heater. After calling around for a plumber, she found one that could come by on Monday, or Saturday if we were willing to pay about a hundred extra. We figured we could stand to be without hotwater for a couple of days - we've got memberships at a health club downtown where we can shower as necessary. Sunday I washed my hair in cold water, poking my head into the shower to protect the rest of me. I know believe that cold water can be used as an effective torture device. Oh, yeah.
Lots of gift shopping this weekend, of course. Hit Amazon to gather together everything I wanted to give, and then picked out the ones they'd be shipping in January and trolled local stores to pick them up. Everything else Amazon can take care of for me - they'll wrap, label, and ship.
One of my nicer birthday gifts from last week was my wife's, a 200 GB USB harddrive which is supposed to support one-touch backing up. I'm not sure about the backing up - it doesn't seem to want to work - but as a freaking huge harddrive it's very nice. However, my old 1.1 USB connectors don't cut it - they'll transfer the data, but when I select a few directories and are informed that the copy will be done in 4 hours, it's time to look into an upgrade. So, while we were out shopping I found a USB 2.0 card at a Radio Shack and picked it up. A few moments of work with a screwdriver, and my computer is a happy beast. I might have gotten it a little cheaper at Microcenter, but Radio Shack has the definate advantage of being right there where I was. :)
And, following up from my earlier comments about text-based free worlds, I finally did try out Second Life. I like the pricing plan (first character free, additional characters $10 to create but free afterwords, with optional cash/month plans for richer characters). I'm looking forward to playing with it - although the process was slow, the level of detail I can get down to in customizing my avatar's body and face is downright astonishing.
Last week or so ago, our DVD player died. We think it happened when Tammy plugged a heater into the power strip for the entertainment center (which is near her computer) and blew the circuit - but we're not certain. It sounds good, at least. It would turn on, but it just gave out incomprehensible diagnostic information (H02) and didn't do much else. Checking the manual suggested that H02 was DVDplayer for 'Call for help'. We did, and found out there was a service center nearby, but upon arrival my wife was told that it would cost $125 for them to look at it. We turned that down.
As it happens, this is just about the best time of year for a DVD player to be replaced - after starting at the godawfullest Soundtrack store we'd ever been in, we ended up at Best Buy, where we ended up with a $60 Phillips DVD player which promises to play dang near any kind of DVD we can think of. Oh, and if we get around to it, we can send in some form to get a $10 best buy gift card too. We also picked up a new power strip while we were at it.
Unfortunately, another thing that seems to be broken is the hot water heater. While she was delving in the basement for Christmas supplies, Tammy found water leaking from the hot water heater. After calling around for a plumber, she found one that could come by on Monday, or Saturday if we were willing to pay about a hundred extra. We figured we could stand to be without hotwater for a couple of days - we've got memberships at a health club downtown where we can shower as necessary. Sunday I washed my hair in cold water, poking my head into the shower to protect the rest of me. I know believe that cold water can be used as an effective torture device. Oh, yeah.
Lots of gift shopping this weekend, of course. Hit Amazon to gather together everything I wanted to give, and then picked out the ones they'd be shipping in January and trolled local stores to pick them up. Everything else Amazon can take care of for me - they'll wrap, label, and ship.
One of my nicer birthday gifts from last week was my wife's, a 200 GB USB harddrive which is supposed to support one-touch backing up. I'm not sure about the backing up - it doesn't seem to want to work - but as a freaking huge harddrive it's very nice. However, my old 1.1 USB connectors don't cut it - they'll transfer the data, but when I select a few directories and are informed that the copy will be done in 4 hours, it's time to look into an upgrade. So, while we were out shopping I found a USB 2.0 card at a Radio Shack and picked it up. A few moments of work with a screwdriver, and my computer is a happy beast. I might have gotten it a little cheaper at Microcenter, but Radio Shack has the definate advantage of being right there where I was. :)
And, following up from my earlier comments about text-based free worlds, I finally did try out Second Life. I like the pricing plan (first character free, additional characters $10 to create but free afterwords, with optional cash/month plans for richer characters). I'm looking forward to playing with it - although the process was slow, the level of detail I can get down to in customizing my avatar's body and face is downright astonishing.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 06:31 pm (UTC)As to Second Life, hope your computer has some graphic oomph in it; mine doesn't.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 08:10 pm (UTC)As for my computer's graphic oomph, it's got 4-year-old oomph, as it's still running the basic card that came with the machine. We recently picked up an improved graphics card for my wife's computer fairly inexpensively - if I keep up on the second life, I'll look into one for my own.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 12:49 am (UTC)I checked it after reading this LJ, but it requires a CC even for a free account, which makes me nervous.