This "Just In"

After a long well thought out decision, we decided to cancel our Comcast Cable subscription. For the past five years we just had basic cable with the addition of High Definition channels. Over the years we never flinched when Comcast kept on increasing their rates. We just paid the bill over the years. Our last bill was $80 a month. So if you do the yearly math, it equals out to nearly $960 a year!

I must admit that Comcast's pricing is rather high in comparison to the many offers from satellite providers or even AT&T's U-Verse. Just like the mobile phone industry, you have many choices of limited time promotional rate packages with the addition of premium channels. Some of these are locked into contract terms. Also, once the promo is over, then that's when the subscription rates go through the roof!

Cancelling the service was a fiasco in itself. I tried calling yesterday only to be on hold for nearly 45 minutes! I even tried going through the new account route to speak to a live person faster, only to be transferred, and put on hold forever. I got so fed up listening to their "music on hold" that I practically gave up and hung up. Today, I tried again and was only on hold for a few minutes. So I tried the tactic of getting a rate reduction to see if it actually works. I read somewhere that the secret code word was to mention "DirectTV" or "DishNetwork" and the reason for cancellation was due to their lower promotion rates. The customer service rep from what I read probably gets a little "spiff" for customer retention. So without hesistation, the customer service rep I had on the phone said, "Let me see what I can do." So the CS rep reduces the rate from $80 a month to $48 + tax a month with a few taps on his keyboard...no contract...and for one year. So in a few seconds and barely any fuss; they knock off 40%!!! So the article I read about calling for a rate reduction does work. Ironically, my intention was to cancel and I didn't follow through with their rate reduction offer.

Now I must resort to the just the local HD channels that can be pulled from the old fashion "bunny ears" antennas. I have an older PC with internet access hooked up to my TV and I can watch from Hulu in almost HD quality. Not as sharp, but close enough. Quality is sacrificed a bit probably due to bandwidth issues. We also have a Netflix account that can also stream movies with their Watch Instantly feature.

Reflecting on what I liked the most was watching television in high definition. It is simply amazing if you are a Comcast subscriber. The sporting events, On-Demand, celebrity gossip, and many countless hours of vegging out in front of the TV will be over! It was a nice luxury while it lasted! With a wedding ahead, it was a smart choice to trim back some of the unnecessary expenditures.

Labels: comcast, HDTV, savings

*DISCLAIMER*
If you have a very weak stomach or easily offended by disgusting "bodily waste material", then I advise you not to continue reading or viewing the images below. Beware of PUNS.

As we are now a few days into 2010, I cannot refrain myself from talking about what showed up on the pathway entrance of our residence. It's big, it's huge, it's enormous, it's massive, it's organic, and it's all natural! Not something to eat!

For those of you who know me very well, I have a very sick sense of toilet humor or anything that has a relationship to fecal matter, farts, vomit, boogers, etc. Anything and everything gross will get a chuckle out of me! I'll admit it. I'm a guy. I laugh at this stuff. Oddly, my parents don't find much humor in these disgusting bodily functions, but I have a wonderful uncle that guided me to the path of bodily function humor. You either laugh or frown in disgust.

I now present to you, "HOLY CRAP!" A one dollar bill was used to emphasize how big this piece of crap is. Had to hold my breath to take this shot and I'm glad I have a zoom lens to shoot this. There is no way I'm getting my nose close this crap!


Good thing I didn't step in it! I am still trying to find out if it was a dog or some large animal. I know we have deer that roam in our area, but I want to say that deer poop would be more vegi looking. This is indeed the poop of a carnivore. Bigfoot perhaps? It can't be human. If it was human, that person must have one big @$$hole (pun intended again)!

I know that there is a Japanese charm out there resembles golden poop since the Japanese pronunciation for "lucky" sounds very similar to the Japanese pronunciation of "poop".

Some Chinese have mentioned that poop symbolizes "wealth!" Heck. I can live with that! Am I wealthy? No! Wishful thinking.

I guess you can stay that my year is starting off crappy! I'm just hoping this is a sign of wealth in the future! I should go buy a lottery ticket.

Labels: big turd, fecal matter, feces, gross, poop, toilet humor

You were a terrible year for me. My only good highlight was my engagement to Sherry. Other than that, I don't want to remember the crummy economy that really hurt my sales numbers and my ability to put bread on the table. I must say it was the worst year I've ever had in my career in sales.

Another sad note was the realization that I graduated 10 years ago from college in 2009. I can say that I am another year old and another year wiser! 2009 will also be the last year of me being a single man. I don't see that as something sad, but something I am very excited and happy about.

Labels: 2009

After driving all over San Francisco and eating at every household we visited; we survived! So much for trying to diet!

Here was the agenda:

• Baked a ham in the morning.
  
• Visit my aunt's house (Mom's side) in the Richmond district of SF.
  
• Visited Sherry's family side in the Excelsior district.
• Visited my uncle's house (Dad's side) in Bernal Heights.

Each home visited consisted of eating, eating, and more eating! It was a great time of catching up with family and enjoying great food. I've noticed that all I've been talking about is food and eating.

All I can say is that I'm exhausted. Exhausted to the point where I've decided to stay at my parents for one more night. It's probably safer to drive home the day after Christmas rather than share the road with all the idiot drunk drivers on the road on Christmas evening.

Speaking of the day after Christmas. Will you see in the crowds? NO! It's probably a good idea for me to hit the gym for a workout to get rid of some of the extra pounds I've added from eating mass consumption of food.

Sadly, Christmas does not have the same excitement as does when you are a child. I think as we get older or mature, Christmas time becomes a big ball of extra stress. Yes, the stress of shopping, cooking, traffic, etc. Other than that, you just have to cover up that stress. Put on your game face and get in the spirit of sharing. Most importantly is being able to spend valuable time with loved ones. The more I think of it, Christmas is not all that bad. What's worse is getting your credit card bill in the mail!

Lastly, as I mentioned a few days ago. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Labels: christmas, eating

Yes, this posting is a tad bit early, but as I look at the clock; I'm only a few hours away from Christmas Eve! This December has been hectic as usual. Here is just a quick highlight:

• Mickey's 10th Birthday
• Trip to New York City
• My 33rd Birthday
• December birthday celebration with friends
  

As everyone is hustling and bustling through the shopping malls until the late hours for last minute gifts; I'm relaxing from my living room! I did in fact do the majority of my shopping online. Which is way much easier than dealing with traffic, crowded parking lots, and crazy shoppers. I did notice that the shopping malls are not as hectic or chaotic as they have been in the past. Not sure if it's the bad economy to blame, or everyone is just shopping online. Probably the busiest companies during this time is UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service.

This year we've decided to keep a low profile and not spend that much on wasteful gifts for everyone. To many of our close ones, we've decided to offer a more practical gift. That is the gift of, "to dos." With my parents, I've decided to wash their windows and paint their stairways. A few other friends were the recipients of other practical services from Sherry and myself. You have to be a rather important individual in our lives to be a recipient of our practical gifts, since our time is very limited!

It's the season of giving and the season to reflect again on the importance of family. It's during these tough times that we must all count our blessing and not dwell on the negative factors that make our lives difficult. Most of all, (though I'm not super religious), we must always remember that this season should be remember for the birth of Christ. Obviously not Santa Claus!

Lastly, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy holidays and look forward to a wonderful 2010. Merry Christmas!

Labels: christmas, holidays

The Dell Mini 10v Netbook is the new addition to my collection of Dell Computers. Despite the fact that I already have portable laptop given to me from work and my own personal laptop; I wanted something even smaller, lighter, and practical. Since netbooks are so affordable and inexpensive; you wouldn't see me really cry over the fact if it got stolen or broken. Yes, I would be upset, but it's not that harsh on the wallet if anything were to happen. Portability was my main objective. I wanted something compact that gave me to ability to toss into my "man purse" messenger bag (my small Timbuk2 bag) and small enough to also fit into my camera backpack as well with ease. Since we have been doing a lot of travelling lately, this small compact netbook is so much easier to carry around.

One of the big selling points for me was the fact that I could "Hackintosh" this netbook. Hackintoshing is basically taking a PC computer and running Apple Computer's Operating System (currently Snow Leopard) on it. I've been doing a lot of research on this and many people are running Apple's OS on this specific netbook with success. Yes, this does piss Apple off and it will ultimately void the Dell warranty. So that is the only risk involved. In many ways, this is a great way to run Apple's OS on a portable device that costs much less than an Apple MacBook. It's portable, though not as fast, and will save you hundreds! Stay tuned. I have not done the hack yet because I wanted to play around with Windows 7 Starter version and I find that it is an upgrade from Vista with a bit of wannabe Apple OS with the big ICONS.

Overall, I'm liking this netbook a lot. It takes a bit getting used to the smaller keyboard. My only gripe is the fact that it does not have a locking clamshell or a magnet to keep it closed like the MacBook. Due to the inexpensive price tag, I did not have the expectations of this netbook being fast machine. Since I'm not using this computer for gaming or other heavy processor use software, this netbook is more than adequate for simple web surfing.

Will an APPLE logo be seen here in the future?

I'm really happy with how sturdy this Mini 10v is built. Yes, it probably won't survive getting thrown of a one story building, but the plastic casing it's built is strong enough that it feels sturdy. My older Gateway laptop, the plastic casing is so flimsy, that when you move the screen, you can see that the plastic is flexing and causing the screen to squish. This does not happen with the 10v.

I will keep everyone posted on my decision if I do decide to hackintosh this netbook. Until then I'm going to play around with it as it came out of the box from Dell.

My Family of Dell Computers (even the monitors)

Labels: Dell, hacktintosh, Mini 10v

Mickey's 10th Birthday Celebration from Justin Mar on Vimeo.

Mickey is 10 years old today! It has been tradition in the past where we would get Mickey a Hamburger Happy Meal from McDonald's. I also have a previous post from several years ago of the same celebration. This time Mickey took his time eating. I only give him half of the burger in tiny minced up pieces because sometimes he tends to throw up human food. I assuming that as Mickey gets older, he wants to savor eat bite!

Unfortunately Sherry is away on a business trip and didn't get a chance to celebrate with us (hence the reason for the video). I also just wanted to make use of my Canon Rebel T1i that has the HD video option. Just keep on forgetting that I have the HD video option at my disposal.

I know, in the video I mentioned that I dressed up for this celebration, but in reality, I was dressed up after playing in a trombone quartet on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dalloway's Books.

So there you have it! Mickey celebrates another birthday at 10 years! Not to forget, we also celebrated my sister Serena's birthday a few days earlier. Serena turned 30!

Mickey Eating his Hamburger and Fries from Justin Mar on Vimeo.

Labels: birthday, Canon Rebel T1i, Mickey