The New Samsung HDTV

Well, the Samsung Plasma HDTV repairman arrived Wednesday.  The Samsung Service Center was sure it was a power supply problem easily fixed in spite of the fact that I told them the red indicator light on the set was on.  Well, OK, maybe the power goes there first and then to the TV components.

And I had bought a 24" Samsung HDTV for $138 to use for the week it took for the repair visit (and to show the rest of the system was working).  Half of my TV use is really just listening to political talk shows and science shows, so the small picture was "OK" for a week.

The repairman instantly recognized the problem wasn't the power supply.  He said, if that little red button is on, you have power.  He waved some gadget across the screen and found a tiny crack in the front panel that caused the screen to fail.  "The gas escaped slowly until it failed".    He arranged to have a new front panel shipped, total cost $1,000.

But the next day, I got a call saying that front panel was no longer made or available from secondary sources.  And that Samsung would call me.

Which they did.  They prorate depreciation over 5 years, mine was 3.7 years old, therefore, I will get 30% back.  Aside from that, I was out of luck and was free to purchase any new TV (or not).

So I read up on the newest 60-65" HDTVs at Consumer Reports website.  The bad news is that there are no more plasma HDTVs.  I liked them; the colors are better and the refresh rate higher than on LED HDTVs.  But the LED HDTVs are better than they were a few years ago.  I set my sights of a particular one (another Samsung - the slightly higher rated TVs were a brand I don't know anything about, and I have all these Samsung remotes, LOL) and went looking.

The nearest place turned out to sell ONLY Samsung!  Well, they have a price-matching guarantee and I had already looked up the prices of the model I thought I wanted and the prices were all with a couple of dollars.

So I was expecting to buy the model from Consumer Reports.  The salesman asked to show me one before I told him what I was looking for.  It was a newer more advanced model.  2160 instead of 1080, many times more pixels, double the screen refresh rate, etc.

I am suspicious of tech advances; some don't mean anything.  But he showed me a special picture on it.  Granted, it was designed to show off color and black background (which creates "depth").  I sure don't know everything about TVs, but it was noticeably better than the same display on the standard Samsung LED  HDTV.

As I said I don't know every about TVs.  But I can follow wiring, and both TVs were receiving the same signal through optical fiber.  Well, if they faked that, they are too good for me to tell.  While the salesman was away briefly selecting the surround sound modes, I looked at the 2 TVs .  The lesser picture quality was the exact model I had come in to purchase!  I had not mentioned that to him.

So I was looking at what I expected to purchase vs one with a noticeably better picture. And I understood why the picture was better.  More smaller pictures equal better picture resolution.  The better TV cost $1,000 more, but came with a 5 year repair guarantee, free delivery, and free removal of the old unit.  That adds up.

I chose the better one.

I was delivered today and the picture is WONDERFUL!  Well, showrooms are designed to make the TV pictures look best.  I know about those tricks.  I watch TV ads seeing the tricks and smiling to myself about them.  But the picture of this 4000k HDTV is really good.  It's worth it.

They tried to sell me a surround sound system.  I didn't go for that.  The Bose soundbar in front of the TV was $700 and the wireless speaker to go behind me and the subwoofer was another $700.  Actually, the subwoofer was so strong, it vibrated the chair and that would have made me nauseous.

I have my TV "audio out" going to my stereo system controller.  My floor model DCM speakers give fine sound after a decade )I don't play music load very often).

But there is an odd effect right now.   I was seeing people speak, but silently.  If I had the TV-only speaker on, they spoke.  Something about the system is separating the audio channels.  For now, I have the TV speaker and stereo speakers both on, But I will have to look at the plugs in the TV control box  soon to see if I can connect them better.

Because right now, If I want to change the volume and keep it balanced, I have to change both the TV and stereo volume, and that's a pain.  There will be a way, I just have to find it.  And I've explored the TV controls and seen many options.  For now, a great picture and good sound is enough.

A Less Than Great Week

My normal routines have gone entirely out of whack this past week or so.  Too many annoyances...

Let me say clearly,that my troubles are minor compared with many peoples'.  But they are MY troubles and on my mind constantly. 

1.  I just can't seem to get in tough with the owner of the neighboring property.  The contractors won't tell me (don't want to get in trouble).  The County tax records still list the previous owner and I know ownership passed to a bank and then the property was sold.

I need to talk to the actual owner or whoever is managing the contractors renovating the property.  I can't find the person, though the contractor boss says 'he".  I am worried every day they will start painting or tearing down MY fence when I'm not looking.

WHY I care if they paint it is a whole separate post and I will try to get to that soon.  Meanwhile, it is my fence on my property and I claim the right to decide how it looks.

2.  My beloved 60" plasma HDTV died Wednesday.  It just went *blink* and then nothing.  It is only 3 1/2 years old.  The soonest appointment for a repair I could get is next Wednesday.  Actually, I called Samsung for trouble-shooting advice hoping for some rebooting advice.  I didn't know that repairs on those things were even possible. 

The Sumsung service desk says it sounds like a power supply problem.  I have my doubts, since there is a little red power "on" indicator and it is lit.  But maybe there is a circuit past that which can be replaced. 

Anyway, the idea of having no TV at all for week was just too much, so I went to Walmart and bought a 24" model for $138.  Plus, I wanted tit as a test o know if it was the TV or just some cable or the cable box etc.

Right out of the box, the new little TV came right on.  It's the 60" that is having the problem.  Plus I can show that to the repair person.  Having a small TV isn't bad.  Since I have MSNBC on most of the day, I listen to TV more than I watch it.  Who needs to watch talking heads?

But The Washington Nationals baseball team are in the playoffs, and watching THAT on a small TV is annoying.  But I'm old enough to remember our first family 12" B&W TV and then years later thinking a color 20" TV was just "amazing".  So I pulled the TV stand closer to the chair and got used to it.  4 days of "tiny" TV isn't the worst thing.  Some people drink water from polluted creeks...

But I'll still be happy to see the big screen again.

3.  I mentioned a couple weeks ago getting the metal spout of a gas can stuck in the car's fuel inlet.  The dealership did the job removing it just fine.  How they did it is not something I expect to have to know for future situations, but they did suggest I have the timing belt and all drive belts replaced.  Not from wear, but due to age.  They wanted $1000 for that.  My automatic response was no because there was no actual problem.  It wasn't like they said "we looked at your timing belt and it is worn out".

But now everytime I start the car I worry.  Some problems you can see developing.  The engine is hart to start, the engine runs rough while driving, there are noises, the brakes squeal, etc.    But when a timing belt breaks, everything just STOPS all at once and nothing first. 

It's like falling off a cliff.  The falling isn't the problem.  The problem is the sudden "THUD".  A broken timing belt is a "THUD".  That happened on a previous car, and lucky that I was directly in front of a good local repair shop.  They just pushed it into the shop and replaced the timing belt in an hour!  I doubt I would be so lucky again.

I think I may pay for the whole belt assembly.  I've been lucky.  No sense pushing my luck.  The Toyota Highlander is 12 years old.  It only has about 28,000 miles on it.  But it has mostly been stop-and-go traffic commuting and local errands, and that is really hard on an engine.  I want to keep the current car running until there is a good SUV hybrid or fuel cell model available.  I like SUVs for the height and cargo capacity.  And since I don't drive much, gas mileage isn't a concern.

4.  I'm listing information about Iza to bring to the vet.  My thanks to everyone who mentioned things to ask about.  I want to talk to the vet about a plan of exams rather that just bring Iza to the vet and say "do stuff"  I want the vet to think about it, advise me of what tests he indends to perform, and them look them up before I agree. 

But I'll do anything within reason to make her life (and mine) better.  My regular vet of 30 years gets the first chance to identify her problems.  I trust him a lot because of years of good attntion but also because HE was the one who found Ayla had almost a whole ovary after the breeder's vet did 2 failed spay operations.  But he might not be so skilled/equipped at detailed tests.   I know of a certified feline specialist (an annoying hour drive away because of few bridges across a river but closest - 40 road miles, 10 as the crows fly) and will go there if my regular vet can't find the problems. 

But to be clear, the feline specialist vet wanted $1700 for exploratory surgery and my vet did it for $400.

Gardenweb

Everything I like goes away.  TV shows, beverages, internet discussion forums, clothes, appliances, etc...

Today I discovered my favorite garden discussion site is essentially "gone".  Oh, I never visited every month, mostly just at the start of each year to talk about "new" heirloom tomatoes I was trying, building raised beds, starting seeds under lights.  I was an "irregular" (very active at times, but absent later in the year).

And it just isn't there anymore.  Well, it exists in name but it was bought by some sales site called "Houzz" (a house improvement sales site).  Gardenweb is there in name, as I said, but they trashed it, deleted all the archives, killed all the usernames, and simplified the format to unusability. 

I had a NAME there "yardenman".  I had a history.  There were people I KNEW!  (And argued with or agreed with).  THAT part is just gone.  And I feel stupid that I'm sitting here crying about it and there isn't a damn thing I can do about it.

I put the site name as the post title in case it grabs someone using it in a search...

I tried to keep up with the change and re-register.  Can't have a handle; gotta be a plain boring real name.  Goodbye "yardenman".  You could know stuff about people with handles like TomatoLover! You have to choose housing interests and give TMI.  I even did that.  And only then did I find that there wasn't much there.  No one I recognized.  No sense of community...  I deleted my new account.

Doing some searches, I found the place had changed August last year.  Some people had gone to another site that apparently (from comments I read) is run by a (and please forgive me here) religious fundamentalist.  If he doesn't like your tone or disagrees with you, the next time you sign in you are shunted to a Disney site.  Seriously, you get automatically redirected to "Disney" forever after.

I wish I had the skills (and time) to set up my own discussion site...

BTW, about the other things I miss?  I might as well explain. 

TV - M*A*S*H ended, Babylon 5 ended, MSNBC essentially became a "Breaking News" channel 24/7, The Discovery Channel became a weird medical stuff site, National Geographic became a fake nature reality show site, The Science Channel became a fake reality show site, The History Channel does famous people drama, etc, etc, etc...  I watch baseball and a LOT of science/nature/history DVDs now.

Clothes and Kitchen - Bell-bottom pants?  Forget about it.  I wear a lot of camo now.  Bet those disappear soon.  Faded Glory shirts with ample armpits?  Gone.  I liked soft velcro "Shark Leash" watch straps.  Had to go to eBay to get a new one.  Blue Libbey glasses?  Forget it.  And I dropped a soapy coffee mug this week and broke it and 2 of my remaining 4 short blue Libbey glasses!  My old Rival crock pot of 40 years finally died a few months ago.  The new ones are junk and burn everything.  Found an old one on eBay...  Tried to find canned grapefruit lately?  Don't bother.

Beverages - Remember Tom Collins Mix?  I used to drink the stuff straight.  Its gone.  I used to make Singapore Slings using Pomegranate Brandy; discontinued.  You've seen those no-cal water flavorers?  I liked the pineapple one.  Gone.  Caffeine-Free Coke?  Gone.

It's not like I'm looking for VHS tapes and saspirilla.  I just want some things *I* like to stay available.  Speaking of camo pants, they are all cargo pants these days.  I have a 25" inseam.  When the tailor shortens the 30" ones (shortest I can get) I have pockets around my ankles,  LOL! 

I'm trying to stay in good humor.  But damn I miss that gardening site...

The HD TV

It went full circle tonight.  Years ago, when I first shopped for an HD TV, one on the showroom HD TVs showed a dinosaur stampede among humans.  I was stunned both by the action and by the realism!  I asked "What is THAT and the salesman said it was the new King Kong movie.

I bought a 60" plasma tv that day, but not so I could watch the movie.  I prefer nature/science/biology DVDs.  But every time the newer King Kong movie was on, I checked it for the dinosaur stampede.  Never caught it...  Too early, too late, whatever.

But I caught it tonight.  Saw the listing and just as I turned it on, the dinosaur stampede started.  Watched that whole part.  Finally!!!  And then I turned it off.  The movie itself is both too depressing and too weirdly violent.  Movies where too many people are just obliterated are Not My Thing...

New Cosmos TV Show

If you are like me, you worry when you read that some Hollywood type is going to make a movie of your favorite book, or old comic mag, or a remake of an older favorite movie.   I went through the 60s to 80s with bad results from Hollywood.  The first Dune movie was horrid, and I still have horrible thoughts about 'Howard The Duck'.  When the first Marvel Comics movies were announced, I prepared to cringe.  But they came off well, as did The Lord Of The Ring  and I sure never expected they could do THAT right.

Somewhere along the years, Hollywood realized that a good book (or even comic book) could make a good movie "as is".  Even the slight changes in the movies were well done.

So I've come to expect decent adaptations from Hollywood.  But I was still worried when I read that someone was remaking 'Cosmos', the outstanding "Life, The Universe, and Everything" of my younger years.  I was relieved to read that Niel DeGrasse Tyson would be the host.  A decade ago, I thought that he could do that, but doubted it would ever be done.

Some themes can be redone wonderfully.  "West Side Story' was a wonderful adaptation of 'Romeo and Juliet'.  "The Wiz' was a great redo of The Wizard of Oz'.  And I'm sure Movie majors in college would name many "redos" of Shakespeare.  But good "redos" were few and far between.

'Cosmos" appears to be a great "redo", and Mr. Tyson after the first 2 episodes.  Tyson has the best relaxed and yet enthusiastic approach to science since Sagan, he doesn't drown you in professional terminology, and he just makes things sound exciting.

No "redo" would be good if the "redo" was just a copycat of the original.  There are differences between Sagan and Tyson.  Sagan came across as someone talking just to YOU across a pleasant small restaurant table.  Tyson is talking to a small group of amateur science enthusiasts.  The difference is real, but maybe not very important.

I have watched the first 2 episodes of the new 'Cosmos".  I gave been re-watching the original on other evenings.  I can't wait for the series to be completed so that I can add the DVDs to my library.

Wiring And Cabling

Darn I hate wiring and cable connections.  Give me a shovel and a pile of dirt to move anytime!  There's nothing complicated about shovelling dirt.

But I've had 2 run-ins with wiring stuff lately.  Both annoying, but at least one finally solved.  I'll mention the successful one today.

I've struggled to connect my TV to the stereo system a few times the past decade.  It has never worked. Mostly, the audio and video haven't matched up.  Watching people talk and having the sound even a half second off is disturbing.

Even with the new HDTV, I couldn't get it to work.  The wiring diagrams in the manuals showed wires from the cable box to the stereo.  I pulled the TV stand and the stereo cabinet out many times to look at all the possible connections.  And I don't mean to say that I understand what all those color-coded plugs mean.  But they ARE all labeled better than 20 years ago.  Or 10 years ago.

My Pioneer VSX-42 tuner is a wonder.  It allows more possibilities than I can even comprehend.  I don't even know what "pandora" IS, but I could access it if I wanted to.  Maybe I will soon.  But the problem was that "audio out" from the cable box did not match the timing on the TV picture.

So, I sat back there and stared at the back of the HDTV and stereo system for a while.  There JUST wasn't an "audio out" from the TV that I recognized.  Not even an modern HDMI  audio outlet   I stared, I fumed, I yelled.

But eventually, I saw a weird looking plug on the HDTV labeled "Digital Optical Audio Out".  No idea what that meant.  But I searched the back of the stereo tuner.  The print was so small even my reading glasses weren't enough, I had to crawl out to get a magnifying glass! 

Whoever thinks that it is easy to read orange print on white, or blue on green should be summarily executed.

But I did eventually find a similar plug on the tuner.  It was labelled "Digital Optical Audio In".  I immediately searched the manuals for the HDTV and the tuner.  66 pages of the Pioneer tuner and 35 pages of the Samsung HDTV (estimates) didn't explain WHAT "digital optical" was. 

But I figured, if there is a delay in the audio from the cable box through the stereo (and I wasn' getting any sound from the DVD player), if I could get sound direct from the HDTV to the stereo speakers, that would work for all components AND stop the audio delay.

Keep in mind that I had already spent $40 on various cables I THOUGHT would connect the HDTV to the stereo properly...

So I drove to Best Buy.  Explained the problem.  Asked about "digital optical audio"  He said "you need this" and showed me a cable.  I said "that doesn't look like the plug, and I even pushed the gateway open with a toothpick".  He said that if it has that gateway, this cable WAS the right one cuz that's the only one with a gate.  I bought it and went home.

The TV and the stereo cabinet were still pulled out for access.  I unplugged the red/white "component cables".  I attached the new digital optical cable and turned on the HDTV and the stereo.

And got NOTHING!  But the Pioneer tuner has many choices.  I rotated the knob (and remembering that the first time I got ANY sound from it took 15 seconds ).  When I turned the tuner knob to "TV", I GOT SOUND!  From the TV.  In perfect synch!

But only one speaker was giving sound.  GLOOOOM!

I dragged out the soundless speaker, and it immediately gave sound.  Oh man, just a loose wire connection!  I fixed that right off.

You want to know something odd about modern tuners?  They don't seem to have a speaker balance dial.  Matbe it exists and I haven't found it yet, but I've read and re-read all the "speaker" parts of the manuals.  OK, I pushed the chair, TV, and speakers around a bit, and NOW it is balanced.  It's almost funny, I adjusted myself an the TV to balance the speakers.

Oh and I mentioned previously that I couldn't find the remote control for the Pioneer tuner?  I found it.  Sitting right on top of the old tuner that died. Buried under other stuff in the computer room. 

But now, I am watching great TV AND listening to audio that matches the picture.  And since it comes directly off the TV, it works with all components I have.

Sometimes, Doing Nothing Is Good

And by that title, I mean that good things sometimes come to those who just sit in frustration.

Warning, long post ahead!

Background:

Six years ago, I desired to connect my stereo system to my 1st HDTV because flat screens are too thin to have good built-in speakers.  I couldn't get it to work.  Oh, I got TV sound through the stereo system, but in one arrangement, I got off-synch sound from both the stereo and the TV which was too annoying to listen to.  In the other, I got only stereo system sound but with a 1/2 second delay which was too annoying to watch.  So I gave up and separated the 2 systems.

Two years ago, my stereo tuner died and I ended up with a Pioneer VSX-42.  It did everything!  Way more than I had any use for, as a matter of fact.  Not just controlling stereo components, but the TV, the DVD, internet radio, gameboxes, Pandora, bluetooth, and some things I don't even know what they are!  All I wanted was a new tuner.

Turns out it made my old "dedicated buttons radio station controller" obsolete.  I miss having dedicated buttons to 20 radio stations.  With the Pioneer, you just have a single preset button and if you want station #12, you have to press it 12 times.  Not exactly the end of the world, but annoying.  And instead of dedicated buttons for each function (like radio, CD, tape deck, phono, and all those others I don't understand), there is a dial you turn to see each function choice displayed on a LED screen.

As you might guess, I am not intuitively good at modern electronic components.  I have to really work at it.  But as a "success through persistence" kind of person person who can (eventually) sift through instruction manuals, I get by.  Seriously, sometimes I actually draw flowcharts to figure out what the technical manual is trying (badly) to tell me.

So with the new Samsung HDTV in place, I dragged the old stereo system back into the TV room (I wanted to rearrange the rooms anyway).  First thing was to add a surge protector to the new HDTV.  A tech guy (not the floor salesman) at the store told me that power surges cause the cycling on/off problem I had with the previous HDTV.  So I bought one that had 2 more outlets than I thought I needed.

At home, I discovered I needed a 2nd coaxial cable, so I started a list of more stuff I needed.  That's when I decided to try again to connect the old stereo system to the HDTV.  I figured that "Hey, this Pioneer control unit seems designed to be the central control point for seriously integrated home theater system, I have to at least be able to listen to the TV through the stereo speakers".

So there I was, with the HDTV stand pulled away from the wall in one direction and the stereo cabinet angled in the opposite direction so I could see all the ports and cables.  I had a flashlight and all the manuals by my side.  Well, "almost all".  I couldn't find the Pioneer manual.  But I looked stuff up on the internet and I had some basic diagrams of various cable connections.

First instruction was to find the "audio out" ports on the TV or cable box.  Naturally, nothing was labled "audio out" on either.  The TV had "audio in" ports and an "optical audio out" with a plug shape I have never seen anywhere.  The cable box had some ports just labeled "AV"  The Pioneer tuner had every type of plug imaginable.  It was daunting!  I was very worried that connecting cables to the wrong ports might blow out some piece of equipment.

But I was willing to try.  Actually, just re-attaching the stereo speakers to the Pioneer tuner was an exercise in frustration.  Whoever designed the connectors was either an idiot or a sadist.  There are little knobs to loosen to expose a tiny hole to stick bare wire into.  The knobs are so close together that you need tweezers to hold the speaker wires to get them at the connection holes.  Anyway, it took me 15 minutes to guide the speaker wire into the required spots.  My previous tuner had connections where the wire went into a hole in the facing side just like sticking an electrical plug into a wall socket.  Who designs these things?  But I got that done.

Then came the cable connection fun.  The internet helped.  At one site, I found a reference to "unlabeled audio ports" being "out", and the cable box was unlabeled.  So I plugged in the red/white/yellow cable there.  Looking at the Pioneer tuner ports was like looking at a final exam for The Geek Squad hiring test.  The entire back of the thing is nothing but ports of all shapes and labels!

There are 6 different HDMI ports, several pairs of regular round red/white/yellow ports, several "optical", some "component" ports, and "some other stuff".

I finally chose to connect the cables from the cable TV box labeled "AV" to the Pioneer ports labelled "sat/cable" (satellite or cable TV I assume)  I crawled out, set the Pioneer to "sat/cable" and counted to 5 (set to "radio", the sound comes on instantaneously).  No sound.  Discouraged, I crawled back behind the equipment and tried some other connections.  When I had the cable box audio cables connected to DVD and nothing happened I just sat there discouraged.

And then, after about 30 seconds, I suddenly heard the TV through the stereo speakers!  HAL-aluhiah!!!  30 seconds in FOREVER in electronics time.  But I was never going to remember that the TV was controlled on the Pioneer tuner set to"DVD".  So I cautiously switched the cables back to the sat/cable ports and waited.  Damn, the TV sound came on after only 15 seconds.

And that's why I'm saying that sometimes doing nothing is good!  If I hadn't just sat there behind the electronics and glared balefully at the ports for a while, I never would never have known that I had the right connections!  Doing nothing for 30 seconds (a really long time to sit sometimes) worked.  Just sitting there solved my problem.

After that success, I sat down in my TV chair to listen to the speakers.  It was sightly fuzzy and minutely out of synch.  So I studied the Samsung manual.  I had already set it to "external speakers" so that I would know if the cable connection were working.  But I found that I had both the TV internal speakers AND the external stereo speakers on.  I shut off the TV speakers.  Much better.

But the speakers weren't balanced, so I went to the Pioneer tuner to adjust the balance between the 2 speakers.  The left speaker is a little further away from my chair than the right speaker.  Guess what?  There is no speaker balance on the Pioneer tuner.  WHAT?  Well, apparently you can download an app to do that.  Great, I don't have a smartphone...

There ARE ways though to adjust balance.  I moved the left speaker forward a couple feet and angled the right speaker away slightly.  I tested it by closing my eyes and aiming my head at the balanced sound point (try it, it works).  When I was off the center of the TV, I adjusted them again and again.  I have it balanced pretty good now, but it looks a little odd.  I'd rather have a speaker balancer.

The Pioneer manual says I could balance the speakers and have other controls I would like using the remote control.  I wish I had it.  I searched the house for 2 hours looking for it.  I know where I would normally keep it.  It wasn't there.  Nor in any other spot I could thing of.  I may have to buy a replacement.  Mainly because I change the volume a lot as I move from the TV room to the kitchen (where I can still see the TV as I prepare food), and back.  Adjusting the volume manually on the stereo is a bit annoying.

Want to bet that the day I receive a replacement remote control for the Pioneer tumner, I find the ols one within a week?  LOL!

BUT, the point is that I figured out all the connections, they work, and I understand the system right now. 

This is a MAJOR SUCCESS in a lifelong battle with electronics.

Reality TV

All the "reality" shows on TV are utterly fake in my opinion.

But I have a particular dislike for Survivorman (a TV series).   *I* personally consider it all fake.  The first episode (years ago), Survivorman made a big deal out of how he was completely alone.  Then, in that episode, he walked down a path through the woods AND THE CAMERA FOLLOWED HIM!  Think about that... 

I was in a human prehistory discussion group at the time.   Another early episode had him "desperate" to make a hole in 6" ice (to catch a fish for food) but unsuccessful.  We immediately came up with 6 different ways to do that.  And then suddenly a new person joined the discussion, defending Survivorman against every example of apparent falseness.  After a couple days, the site administrator posted that he had tracked the new member's IP address and (wait for it), it was Survivorman's address!!!  

I only mention that to say this...  After some (14?) years of Survivorman, the reality there is no greater.  I saw the teaser ad for the new season and I laughed my ass off.  I actually had to pay attention to it several times to be sure.

The teaser ad shows Survivorman cutting a sapling trunk into a sharp spear point.  Then you see him standing in the water (with a VERY FIERCE expression) waiting to stab a fish for his dinner.  That's OK so far as it goes.  If you spear a fish with a good upwards movement, the fish will stay on the spear.

Except...  The point of his wooden spear looks bent over!  Seriously, it looks like he pounded the point on the ground a few times OR it was deliberately bent to look like a barb.  But it won't work either way.  Essentially, Survivorman is standing in the water threatening to jab a fish with the eraser end of a pencil, LOL!  The fishes scales will block THAT everytime.  

If you want to see actual sensible survivor skills without hyped drama, try http://aloneinthewilderness.com/.  It's about a guy who simply lived in remote Alaska for some time and succeded in the daily tasks required to get by.

THAT guy was real.

Its available in several versions at Amazon.  Just don't accidentally order the Survivorman title of a similar name.  Its not the one I'm recommending.

Minor But Annoying Problems

I am fortunate to not have any major health or financial problems.  But minor ones add up and can be really annoying. 

The tire pressure light is on in the car even though I made sure they were properly inflated and checked to make sure they are staying inflated.  That means a couple hours sitting around the dealership.

A tooth has gone bad and I had going to the dentist.  Its not the dental work that bothers me.  It's the bite block.  I have a small jaw AND I can't hold it open voluntarily.  As soon as that bite block goes in, I start swallowing.  Just try to swallow with your jaw wedged open!

It's January, so all the cats have to go to the vet.  There goes $800...  And I'll have to isolate each one to get identifiable stool samples.  It's amazing how long they can go without pooping when they are enclosed alone in a room!

I had an older Mac Desktop cleaned because of fan noise a few months ago.  Last week, I learned that my router is wireless-capable, so I decided to set up the desktop and move my Mac Mini to the TV room so I could visit cat blogs while watching TV.  After 5 minutes the "repaired" desktop was buzzing loudly again!

But the intolerable annoyance is that my HDTV died!  It had been turning itself off randomly for several days.  Sometimes it came back on by itself, sometimes I had to turn it on manually.  But tonight it just stopped completely.

Anyway, the Panasonic support (phone and website) is a joke!  I called the number on the manual and was informed the service department was closed.  Hours are 9 am to 9 pm Eastern Time.  The time was 8:50 ET.  WHAT?  They were supposed to be open.  So I went to their website find a local authorized service center.  They wanted the model number and my zipcode to find  service centers within 100 miles.  My model number was not on the list.  I manually entered the model number (checked it on both the TV and the manual).  I got a message saying "no such model number".  Hey, its only 6 years old!  But then the message was to choose the closest model number on the list.  OK.  But when I entered my zipcode, it deleted the selected "close" model number!  AARGGHH...

After several tries, I found a model number on the list that stayed listed when I entered my zipcode, and got a list of "servicers".  One is right here in town.  Good thing, too, because the next nearest is 30 miles away!  Naturally, the local "servicer" has no answering service, so I will call tomorrow.

The TV is 6 years old (I was shocked when I found the receipt and discovered that - my guess was 2-3 years).  If these HDTVs are anything like computers (and I suspect they are), I might just be better off buying a new one.

I LIVE with the TV.  I'm home all day and it's too damn quiet.  So when I get up, I turn on the TV before I even make my morning mug of green tea.  I always look for science or nature shows first, then switch to MSNBC for political talk (sometimes I put on science/nature DVDs and I have a 5' shelf of them).  But I have to hear some voices!  Fortunately, tomorrow is Friday and I can listen to rational talk from 10 am to 2 pm, and then science discussion from 2 pm to 4 pm on PBS radio.  That's almost as good since I mostly listen to the TV most of the time.   In fact, if I could simply listen to cable TV channels through radios throughout the house, that would be fine with me.  There used to be radios that received the sound from TV stations.  Are there any that do that with cable TV?

I'm looking at Consumer Reports reviews of HDTVs, talking myself into buying a new bigger HDTV, aren't I?

Then I'll tackle the other issues.  Like, if I am going to have a tooth pulled (which is likely), I will damn well have a working TV to watch through the several days of pain.  And if I have to ignore the cats scratching and meowing at the room doors while waiting for them to poop, I will have a TV to watch cuz its too darn cold to sit outside to ignore their pleas to be let out. 

UPDATE!  Bought a new HDTV.  80" Sharp LCD/LED.  Sharp and LCD isn't my favorite brand or type, but I really couldn't  see the difference from the better plasmas and the plasmas don't come that large.  If I'm buying a new one, it ought to at least knock my socks off.  The only step up from 80" has to be a whole wall (probably 5 years from now).  

I may go back for the sound enhancement.  They showed me the sound on a regular HDTV playing a tiger roaring (from The Life of Pi).  It was good.  Then they showed me the same scene with the sound enhancement speakers.  I JUMPED BACK and I bet every cat tail within a mile was POOFED!!!  It was astonishing.  But I want to see if hooking my stereo to the new TV is nearly as good.  I bet it is close. 

BTW, there is something called "4K" now that is way better than HDTV,  I wanted to reach in and touch the person in the screen.  It was "that real".  But maybe next time.  For what I watch, I don't need that.  And it was "super-tech", which I also am not.  But when this HDTV wears out, there may be even better stuff.  I can wait.

Should have delivery Saturday afternoon.  I can't wait. 

Living With Dad, 3

Helpful arrangements done today...

1.  Got him to sort through 10 pairs of really cheap sunglasses to choose 2 to put in the car and 1 to keep for walking onto the deck (he seems to be very light sensitive, so that means I need to get him an eye exam).  But we got rid of 7 cheap giveaway sunglasses that he couldn't part with before (because they were free).

2.  My 2 TV-watching chairs (swivel/rockers) were difficult for Dad to stand up from.  I cut a piece of 1/4" plywood to fit the springs and wrapped it in a towel (to keep the plywood from cutting the cloth over the springs) and he got up out of the chair a LOT easier. 

3.  Set up file folders for his documents.  Next step is convincing him to allow me to put his documents IN them.  One step at a time...

4.  Convinced Dad to let me count the antibiotic pills the dentist prescribed.  I know he considers that a statement that he isn't taking them as often as he should, but I know he isn't.  I just have to prove it to him. 

5.  Did MY laundry and then convinced him to allow me to do HIS.  He wants to do his laundry in plain water in the bathroom sink (obviously not clean enough).  I had some work to convince him that I would just do all of his at once in one load and NOT mix it up with mine.

6.  Got tennis balls and cut them open just enough to push them onto the non-wheeled bottoms of his new walker-helper.

Well, just imagine the tennis balls on the non-wheel legs.  I don't have time these days to photoshop pictures much.  LOL!  He didn't like the idea before I did it.  Now he does.

I'm learning to do good ideas even when Dad doesn't like the ideas at first.  So, I'm learning to just DO things.

7.  I've learned that Fox TV and The Golf Channel will keep Dad happy all day.  I'm MSNBC and The Science Channel, so we'll see how long I can last on just a couple hours of those per day.

8.  I'm giving Dad simple things to do around the house.  Its hard to find them, but he keeps asking.  He can make a salad for dinner and set out the forks and spoons.  That keeps him happy he can help.

9.  I wish I could get him to clean the cat litter boxes...  (Joke!)

10.  I made him a list of the channel numbers of his favorite channels.  Fox TV, Golf Channel, CNN, etc.  That helps him a lot; he thinks Fox TV is the absolute truth in all matters.

Busy Time

My apologies, I am a bit busy these days.  At day, it is garden time, so I am either working hard or recovering from it.  And at night I watch MSNBC or videos.  And have I got a great video...  I saw bits of it when it was on Cable, but I have the whole DVD set now.

I'm obsessed with HackDotSign right now.

In the series, there is an interactive world-wide internet game called "The World".  Sort of a Sword and Sorcery world, but much more involved inter-personally than that.  The trick here is that there is one character who cannot logout and isn't sure what "the real world" is.  And he is a real jerk to most people.  Not in the mean or cruel sense but because he has no real-world connections and can't relate.

I think he may be in a real-world psychiatric ward or involved in an accident (in the show). 

And he has problems, a mystery he is trying to solve, and some mysterious friends no one else can see.  And some he can who are trying to help him but he can't understand that.  I watch a couple hours of that each night, but I think there are at least a couple of week's worth.

So I am kind of preoccupied for a while.  Sorry...  I'll visit when I can.

The cats are happy, they get to sit on my lap for hours.

If you ever saw the series, let me know that you liked or didn't like it.  OK either way.  And for whatever it means, I sure would like to be like the character "Bear".

And I don't know how it ends, so please don't mention anything about that.

Mark

Cable TV Annoyances

It started with the remote control slowing down as I tried to change channels.  Then, the TV Guide part started working slower too.  Finally, I couldn't enter the 3-number channel numbers.  It would transmit 1 number (sometimes 2) never the last.

I changed the batteries (rechargeable) and then changed them again.  No good.  I cleaned the window on the remote control, on the TV, and on the cable box.  No good.

So, I took the remote control (which needed to be replaced because the battery cover has to be taped on and you can't read the buttons anymore) to the local cable site.  The place is more fortified than my bank!  2" plexiglass (or whatever they use these days),  a double-covered opening to speak through (have they never heard of microphones?), and a double-locked box through which can pass equipment.  You open your side and put the equipment in and close it.  The cable person locks your door amd opens his to retrieve it.


I'm not kidding.  My bank doesn't have that kind of security.  It has no barriers and they have real money behind them!

But be that as it may...  I told them my remote control seemed to be failing.  The guy said "put it in the box".  I started to do so and he shouted "No, in the BOX, man, I don't want it".  Huh?  He meant in the trash can on my side of the Embassy-quality security barrier.  I pointed out that the logical "box" was the one for returning or receiving equipment.

Strangely, he seemed pissed at my incomprehension.  OK...  not one to fight the system, I dropped it in there.  Then he said he was passing me a new remote control through the "box".  Silly me, I looked at the trash can.  No, it can through the FT Knox quality plexiglass-survive-an-atomic-bomb box. 

No, I did not even point out the silliness of the terms.  I wanted to get the hell out of there!  I just took the new remote and went home.

Never mind the huge sign that said that NO EQUIPMENT WILL BE PROVIDED WITHOUT PROOF OF IDENTITY, and I hadn't.

So I got home and the new remote control had no effect.  I tried newly charged rechargeable batteries in case the provided ones were dead.  No change.

*GLOOM*

It had to be the cable box itself (only months old).  So I pulled the TV stand out from the wall and detached the cables, leaving them in place to make it easier to reattach them.  I CAN figure out cabling (and did it succesfully when I added a DVD player/recorder to the system last month), but it wasn't easy.  So I am very careful.

I brought the cable box to Comcast.  And standing there, I had to listen to a customer making small talk to the service guy (obviously trying to get a date).  Hey, don't do that on MY time, OK?  So, I explained the problem to the service guy (eventually).  He spoke very quietly through the barrier.  And as I tried to hear his words, another customer came to the other window and started YELLING about his bill problem.  And the other guy was OBVIOUSLY wrong.  I almost offerred to throw him out.

I did pass my cable box through "The Security Box".

But I struggled to hear my own customer service representative (with a BAD accent).  He was trying to tell me that he didn't have my type of cable box in stock and that I might have to wait for several days.

Sorry, no, that wasn't acceptable. and "could I at least have my previous box back"?  Slow channel selection is better than none...  He said he couldn't give me a damaged box back because I said it was "damaged".  He said the only ones available were for "better systems" but he could give me a lesser box until the right one was available.  I have everything they OFFER!

He said the "better one" was HDMI.   I pointed out that the box I gave him was HDMI!  He didn't believe me, but disappeared into a room for (and I measured it) 5 full minutes.  He finally came out with a cable box identical down to the last to the last outlet and input and said "I'll give you this one", as if he was reluctantly granting me a heart transplant.

And remember that sign below the counter about not giving out cable equipment?  They never did ask me for mine.  If I had stolen a discarded broken one, I would have gotten a new working one!

Strange people...

So I got home with the replacement cable box.  I hooked it up properly (I thought).  This part is my fault.   You have to call the cable company and go through a bunch of questions to get a signal sent to the new unit to activate it and wait (up to) 45 minutes.  I called and the voice-only system said it send the signal.  45 minutes later, there was still no signal.

I hadn't fully seated the power cord properly.  My fault all the way.  I had to talk to the VOICE again and get a new signal sent.  At least it worked this time.  The cable system is working again.

I shouldn't even mention that coding the new Universal Remote meant I had to go through a bunch of nonsense.  But the cable TV instructions were in invisible print and I had to copy it from their site to PDF and from there to WORD and expand it to 20 point font just to read it.

And I will add that the "Universal Remote" isn't.  It will not control my TV except to shut it off and on.  It won't control my new DVR at all.  For me to watch a DVR, I have to use 3 separate remotes...  LOL!

But at least I can finally change channels on the cable again with A remote..